Ludvig Norman Symphony No.3 & Overtures

[Alan Howe]

...forthcoming from Ondine:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9362342--ludvig-norman-symphony-no-3-overtures

More here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0R5bVHAzpE

And about time too! This is a magnificent symphony; at last we can discard the sub-par Sterling recording.

[Ilja]

Oh, yummy. Although for me, the yardstick is now Sakari Oramo's live performance with the Royal Stockholm Phil in the downloads section. The samples sound very good, though. But this also has the very attractive Anthony and Cleopatra overture, so it's a must-buy regardless. 

[Alan Howe]

Ilja's right. The Oramo performance is the current yardstick, so we must hope this new release measures up.

[Alan Howe]

I find this a rather patronising, not to say ignorant review:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/Classrev/2022/Sep/Norman-sy3-ODE13912.htm

[eschiss1]

"I suspect I am not alone in barely having heard the name of, let alone a note of music by Ludvig Norman." Considering how often Euroclassic Notturno plays his string quartets and other chamber works, that'd be a resounding "No."

[Alan Howe]

Reviewers really ought to do some homework.

[eschiss1]

Agreed. Though in the strict sense of "not alone", I suppose he's right. In the connoted? sense, not so much.

[Alan Howe]

He's definitely correct in being 'not alone' in his ignorance.

[eschiss1]

Even I won't pretend to know much. Though I think my main problem with the review is the very very common notion that a composer who was not a nationalist was doomed to be derivative of those Very Hungry Germans they studied under...

[Alan Howe]

I have a number of CDs of his very fine chamber music, plus the other symphonies. The reviewer really ought to have investigated him further.

[semloh]

I think my main problem with the review is the very very common notion that a composer who was not a nationalist was doomed to be derivative of those Very Hungry Germans they studied under...

 I think that's a good point, Eric, and it's an issue that has popped up before somewhere in UC. The word "derivative" also hides a host of possibilities, but so often is used purely pejoratively.

[hyperdanny]

I have not yet received the cd from jpc, so I can't comment on the music itself, but I have to say that I found the general tone of the review shockingly condescendiong