There will surely be enthusiasts for abominable performances such as this one, because novelty for its own sake always has its attractions. The problem, though, is that gratuitous quirk s imposed on any piece of music may sound intriguing once, but a compact disc is (virtually) forever. The second time they sound predictable, the third boring, and the fourth time infuriating — assuming the listener gets that far at all. Norrington’s Mahler, as with so much else from his baton, is so deficient in basic musicality, and so lacking in ideas beyond mere effrontery, that it’s hard to imagine anyone taking it seriously. But they did in Stuttgart evidently, not that this means any thing, and I propose to do so as well, if only to explore just how ridiculous Norrington’s pretentions really are…