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The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music 2009
 
 
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The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music 2009 (Paperback)

by Ivan March (Author)
2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
RRP: £30.00
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Product details

  • Paperback: 1602 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin (25 Sep 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0141033355
  • ISBN-13: 978-0141033358
  • Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 17.2 x 6.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 153,532 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #30 in  Books > Music, Stage & Screen > Music > Styles > Classical Music > Guides to Classical Music
    #30 in  Books > Music, Stage & Screen > Music > Guides to Music > Classical Music
    #48 in  Books > Reference > Consumer Guides > Music

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Product Description

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 'The bible for the discriminating record collector' - David Mellor, Daily Telegraph 'More valuable than ever to any serious collector of classical music' Wall Street Journal


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.
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
2.8 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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51 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars If you have the 2008 guide, don't waste your money on this, 17 Oct 2008
By Steve (Huddersfield, U.K.) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)      
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.
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27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Slight improvement, sloppy editing, 6 Nov 2008
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.
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30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Too many omissions but still the bible, 9 Nov 2008
By B. R. DAVIES - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
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.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed....
I, like most other reviewers with past experience of the Penguin Guide have looked to the guide as the "bible" of classical music and have lived with many editions over the years... Read more
Published 2 months ago by C. Weir

3.0 out of 5 stars Badly Needs a Complete Revision
Over more years than I care to remember I have bought every edition of the Penguin Guide, but I don't think that I will be buying the 2010 edition. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Graham

1.0 out of 5 stars Nice cover shame about the contents
I'm sorry to say that the writers and Penguin have lost the plot. In the past I would not have even considered criticising this publication. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Real reviewer

4.0 out of 5 stars Full guide
It is a serious and well conceived review, I like it but it seems to me that it is a bit akward to handle for its 1553 pages are too much for a paperback.
Published 7 months ago by Jose G. Almeida

2.0 out of 5 stars Mixed feelings...
I have bought fifteen previous issues of the Penguin Guide over the years, but this will be my last for a long time. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Anything Musical

4.0 out of 5 stars Counterpoint
I've read the other reviews and I take the point about the guide changing little from previous editions (which I also had) but taken on it's own merits rather than in terms of... Read more
Published 8 months ago by M. Brickley

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