The musicians of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra drew a sell-out crowd on 3 September. Under Sir Roger Norrington’s leadership, they played  with pure, unwavering tone, which demands absolute precision in pitch but is “so touching” – as Norrington describes it – in effect. A string arpeggio figure in the first movement of Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony proved their  accuracy while still, wind chords had the stark beauty of truth. Norrington conducted in his nonchalant way, shoving the sound along as if spinning a hoop, apparently unresponsible for the players’ rhythmic precision, bringing them off with a gesture like a batsman’s reverse sweep so that he ended facing the audience, beaming and engaging. Few conductors command suc