CLASSICAL CONDUCTOR TRAVELING ECLECTIC TRACK.

Byline: Reed Johnson Daily News Staff Writer

Roger Norrington has long feet. You can tell because he has doffed his shoes and is wandering around in sky-blue socks, which isn't the typical drill for a world-renowned classical conductor giving an interview.

Not that Roger Norrington ever put much stock in ``typical.''

``We've ordered you a sandwich and some bottled water,'' the L.A. Philharmonic publicist tells Norrington between interviews.

``Better make it a beer,'' the maestro retorts.

The publicist then tells Norrington that a woman from a classical radio station has called to ask for a list of his new releases.

``She shows very good taste,'' says Norrington, adding a sly wink.

With that, he slings a tangerine-colored sweater over his shoulders, sinks casually into a sofa, and declares that a great deal of today's classical performance is ``boring.''

What else would you expect from the 62-year-old British conductor who has spent the better part of 30 years knocking classical music off its ivory podium?

A Norrington sampler:

Beethoven's symphonies are ``often very funny, even the Fifth.''

A lot of Bach and Mozart is ``deeply shocking.''

Many of Haydn's tunes ``aren't up to much,'' but their wit redeems them.

When you get right down to it, the great Western composers really are ``just guys.''

This is hardly the gospel of classical-musical appreciation as uttered in awestruck tones by reverent concert-hall announcers. What Norrington holds out to listeners, instead, is the heretical idea that classical music needn't be prim and forbidding, but rather deeply enjoyable and broadly accessible.

``Music isn't meant to be morally good for you, it's meant to be fun,'' he asserts. ``It isn't like medicine: `Take this, it's good for you, my good man.' I don't want medicine. I want ice cream!''

Tonight, Norrington will once again bring that sweet-toothed philosophy to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

Last Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, Norrington led the orchestra through a sold-out, all-Beethoven lineup, including a sprightly version of the Fifth. On Saturday morning he conducted a 30-minute concert of excerpts from the Fifth for an audience of children ages 6 to 12, the first of the L.A. Philharmonic's ``Toyota Symphonies for Youth'' series.

This evening, he'll preside over a musical tribute to his homeland's capital city, starting with a suite from Purcell's ``The Fairy Queen,'' followed by Haydn's Symphony No. 104 (``London'') and Ralph Vaughan Williams' ``A London Symphony'' (Symphony No. 2). The program will be repeated at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday.

With his outgoing temperament and endless supply of breezily erudite sound bites, Norrington has become one of classical music's most mediagenic figures. Since the late 1970s, he has been the international point man for period music, advocating the performance of classical-era works on historically authentic instruments.

In practice, that usually means trading an abstract ideal of harmonic perfection for quirkier textures and faster tempos. Too many classical works, Norrington believes, have been smothered by plush, somber readings. His job is to blow off the dust.

``People love tradition, you see,'' he says. ``People play Beethoven as if it were Strauss or Mahler, not as if it were Haydn, which is a lot closer. I started looking at the (Beethoven) scores as if it were Haydn, Haydn gone mad, Haydn on drugs.''

His method, naturally, has its detractors, but his passion has never been disputed.

``Norrington obviously feels this music in every fiber of his body,'' a critic wrote in 1966 of a performance of Heinrich Schutz's ``Magnificat.'' That verdict has been reaffirmed and amplified over the past three decades as he has worked and recorded with most of the major British orchestras and several prominent U.S. symphonies.

Though he used to work virtually year-round, Norrington says he now is down to a more manageable 26 weeks of engagements. Maybe because he was an amateur musician for 28 years before turning professional, he finds his jobs ``still fun.''

``My only qualification is experience,'' he says. ``Credentials are handy, but they don't make you into a great performer. If I'd never read a book on music, I'd still be a good conductor. It's got to be instinctive, sort of like a baseball player.''

THE FACTS

The show: Roger Norrington conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

When: 8 p.m. today through Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday.

Where: The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Music Center of Los Angeles County, 135 N. Grand Ave.

Tickets: $8 to $60. For tickets, call [phone].

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Photo

Photo: ``Music isn't meant to be morally good for you, it's meant to be fun,'' says conductor and classical-music point man Roger Norrington.