Product Description

This completely revised edition of the Penguin Guide reviews the major classical recordings issued and reissued over the past five decades, many of which dominate the catalogue because of their sheer excellence, irrespective of recording dates. More comprehensive than ever before and now updated annually, it indicates key recordings on CD, DVD and enhanced SACD, including those in surround sound. If you want the finest available version of any major classical work (including DVDs of opera and ballet) you will find it listed and assessed in these pages. Ranging from long-established recordings to the newest releases, the latest edition represents the cream of the international repertoire and has all the information you need to select the finest classical music available.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #102907 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 1602 pages

Review
Indispensable, illuminating and comprehensive (The Times )

An indispensable and comprehensive survey. Anyone who wants to make sense of all the rival versions of classical music available on CD will find a great deal of illumination (The Times )

More valuable than ever to any serious collector of classical music (Wall Street Journal )

The bible for the discriminating record collector (Daily Telegraph )

About the Author
Ivan March is a well-known lecturer, journalist and writer in the world of recorded music. He lives in London, SW6. Edward Greenfield was for forty years on the staff of the Guardian and is a regular BBC broadcaster. He lives in London, E1. Robert Layton is a journalist and broadcaster. He lives in London, NW6. Paul Czajkowski is a music writer. He lives in London.

Customer Reviews

If you have the 2008 guide, don't waste your money on this
When the 2008 Penguin Guide appeared, I wrote that the main problem was the sheer number of good CDs omitted. I had hoped that with the 2009 Guide, important releases missed out previously would be included.

Not a chance. As I browsed through this latest edition, I kept thinking 'but this is the same as the 2008 edition'!. I got the previous Guide out, and there is precious little difference. All those excellent classical CDs and SACDs released over the last twelve months - so few reviewed.

Just to give a couple of examples; there has been an avalanche of fine Shostakovich recordings over the last year. How many make it into the Guide? Five. Take Mahler symphonies- there's always a steady stream of recommendable new releases; just three new releases are included (and one DVD). I could go on, but you get the point.

I have been buying the Penguin Guide for years, but have never been so disappointed as by this edition. If there is not space for more releases (and it is the sheer number of excellent releases from the last 12 months omitted that annoys me) then either we should have a two volume edition, or Penguin should just call it a day. It's not as though it's cheap either. I actually took my copy back to Waterstone's (sorry Amazon) and got a refund. And the new system, introduced last year, of giving up to four stars, putting shaded boxes around some recommended recordings, a rosette for some others, a 'key' symbol for others....this must be a little confusing for newcomers.

The one guide to classical compact discs which I now find indispensible is '1001 Classical Recordings You Must hear Before You Die', which is much better than it sounds. But I think the Penguin Guide has just had its day.

Sad.

Slight improvement, sloppy editing
I reviewed the previous edition and remarked on the poor editing. There has been a slight improvement here but not enough to save the Guide from a so-so rating. Some CDs are noted but not rated, the text has not been updated so that "recent releases" are sometimes 10 years old and some new releases are bizarrely ignored altogether. This is the last edition I will ever invest in. I suggest that other readers think very carefully before they part with their cash.

Too many omissions but still the bible
I have to agree with the previous two reviewers. I have been buying the Penguin Guide since the early 1980s and have become increasingly disappointed. I also bought the 2008 edition and hoped that important recordings that had been omitted would be included. Abbados Mahler 6 and 7 recordings with the Berlin PO- surely among the primary recommendations and cornerstones of my collection- are omitted! And what about Simon Rattles recording of Szymanowskis Harnasie? And Chailly's wonderful Leipzig recordings of the Mahler editions of Schumann's symphonies- not everyone's taste I know- but perhaps the most frequently played of all my new CDs in the past year. I also wonder whether the reviewers hearing is quite what it used to be. I invested in the four star-rated recording of Messiaens Turangalila Symphony on RCA by Ozawa "..comes from 1967, but you would never guess that from the brilliantly atmospheric sound"- I agree that the performance is seminal, but the sound is uncomfortably distorted and glassy at times and falls far short of what we would expect nowadays- so much so that I have never got through it in one sitting, even in the car. All this having been said- I have got Greenfield, Layton, and March to thank for intoducing me to some wonderful recordings over the years, and I still agree with most of their recommendations (such as Richard Hickox's new Elgar 1- one of the greatest ever in my opinion, and with stunning sound). For anyone new to classical music who wants to build a collection-this guide is still like the bible, but it needs some more careful editing as the market beomes ever more saturated with reissues and new recordings.