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Swan_Knight
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« Reply #1 on: 20:13:13, 15-10-2007 » |
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I'd be interested to know what people think of the Penguin Guide.
It was the first reference work I used when checking out recordings...but I have to say, I disagree with it as often as I agree with it. And that rosette business is very contentious indeed....
Any thoughts?
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...so flatterten lachend die Locken....
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Stevo
Posts: 56
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« Reply #2 on: 00:04:24, 09-01-2008 » |
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It's not half as bad as some people make out (especially the Americans, who seem to be bitterly aggrieved that a British publication should favour recordings available here... funny that). Such an enterprise is always going to be subjective, which makes criticisms of it as subjective seem a little superfluous.
Over the years I have made some very sound purchases with the help of the Penguin Guide, and on balance I think the majority of the ratings are reasonable.
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perfect wagnerite
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« Reply #3 on: 22:35:50, 09-01-2008 » |
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I found the Penguin guide extremely valuable as a guide in my early days of record collecting. As I have got older/more knowledgeable/more opinionated, I have found aspects of it increasingly frustrating. Some of the opera reviews in particular seem more concerned with star worship (Callas, Schwarzkopf - both of whose recordings I would cross busy roads to avoid - Karajan, Solti) and in general I find the emphasis on ranking recordings rather irritating. A lot of the reviews don't tell you very much. Despite being badly out of date, a much more informed, opinionated, entertaining read about opera recordings is:  Not a book to put in the hands of the newcomer wanting objective advice, but much more fun thant the Penguin guide. |
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At every one of these [classical] concerts in England you will find rows of weary people who are there, not because they really like classical music, but because they think they ought to like it. (Shaw, Don Juan in Hell)
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Tony Watson
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« Reply #4 on: 19:00:32, 11-01-2008 » |
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The Penguin Guides to Bargain Records were my bible in the 1970s when I was starting to buy classical LPs. They gave me confidence to part with my hard-earned pocket money and I was never disappointed with anything I bought. All criticism should be taken with a pinch of salt of course but I found it useful to compare my own thoughts with what was written therein during such formative years and I still have them for sentimental reasons. Then I didn't buy any more guides until I got the standard one (they don't seem to do bargain ones any more) for the first time last year, but it never seems to have the particular CD I'm looking for in it.
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Stanley Stewart
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« Reply #5 on: 19:30:39, 11-01-2008 » |
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# 3 Yes, pw, The Metropolitan Guide to Recorded Music remains a stimulating read and I also return to the hefty 569 pp, Saturday Afternoons At The Old Met; The Metropolitan Opera Broadcasts, 1931-1950, by Paul Jackson, for reference, particularly when listening to the expanding availability of historical recordings on Naxos. Well illustrated, too. It used to be readily available at the Music Discount Centre, next to The Coliseum. Published by Duckworth.
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Kuhlau
Gender: 
Posts: 60
Kasper Meier
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« Reply #6 on: 00:12:54, 07-10-2008 » |
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I can only echo what's been said so far. The Penguin Guide (and ditto, Gramophone's equally over-priced annual round-up) has as many strengths as weaknesses. It's excellent if you're new to classical music and know nothing, but infuriating once you're an old hand with opinions based on years of comparative listening.
The problem, if indeed it is a problem, lies perhaps partly in the tiny amount of space each recorded work is allocated for review. There's also the issue - as mentioned earlier in this thread - of reviewer subjectivity. And as one becomes a 'broader' listener, with CD shelves that boast two or three recordings of even some of the more obscure works (I have two versions of Bruch's 'Eight Pieces', for example), one gets progressively more annoyed by the championing in such guides of recordings one wouldn't give to one's enemies. To this insult, add the injuries of poor copy editing, inaccurate details and the baffling omission of performances that one feels are worthy of the highest praise.
FK
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« Last Edit: 20:26:44, 08-10-2008 by Kuhlau »
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Stanley Stewart
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« Reply #7 on: 13:07:55, 08-10-2008 » |
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I would also recommend two American publications which provide comprehensive and controversial reviews; FANFARE 'The magazine for Serious Record Collectors', published every two months and runs to 450 pages. I get the occasional copy from my local Borders shop at York and the same applies to the American Record Guide (around 250pp per issue). Can I also add my 'warmest welcome' Kuhlau.  I used to contribute regularly to the Welcome thread until I got scunnered with all the shenanigans! "Enough; no more; 'Tis not so sweet now as it was before." |
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time_is_now
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« Reply #8 on: 13:41:13, 08-10-2008 » |
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I thought I had something to say about the American Record Guide, but it turns out I was thinking of the All Music Guide. Anyone know what that is?? My attention recently came to the following review drawn from that publication, which presumes - rather oddly, I thought - to know which was my favourite of five pieces I wrote programme notes for. It also quotes me and attributes the quote to someone else (i.e. the composer), while elsewhere quoting someone else and attributing the quote to me, but that happens so absurdly often in CD reviews that I've almost given up worrying about it. |
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The city is a process which always veers away from the form envisaged and desired, ... whose revenge upon its architects and planners undoes every dream of mastery. It is [also] one of the sites where Dasein is assigned the impossible task of putting right what can never be put right. - Rob Lapsley
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IgnorantRockFan
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« Reply #9 on: 14:17:38, 08-10-2008 » |
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I thought I had something to say about the American Record Guide, but it turns out I was thinking of the All Music Guide. Anyone know what that is?? I only know the on-line www.allmusic.com, which I find quite useful (but not always terribly reliable). A search on it for "Book of Hours" turns up: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=43:146760 |
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Allegro, ma non tanto
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time_is_now
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« Reply #10 on: 14:39:13, 08-10-2008 » |
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Aha. Donc c'est la même chose... |
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The city is a process which always veers away from the form envisaged and desired, ... whose revenge upon its architects and planners undoes every dream of mastery. It is [also] one of the sites where Dasein is assigned the impossible task of putting right what can never be put right. - Rob Lapsley
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...trj...
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« Reply #11 on: 15:10:19, 08-10-2008 » |
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It is.  |
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IgnorantRockFan
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« Reply #12 on: 15:23:44, 08-10-2008 » |
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Aha. Donc c'est la même chose...
Your donkey is chasing your mother?  |
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Allegro, ma non tanto
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Stanley Stewart
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« Reply #13 on: 15:27:24, 08-10-2008 » |
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# 8 Tinners, you've just made me hoot with joy!  I've been transferring the BBC Pinter season, of 2002, from off-air video to DVD and had just finished watching "Old Times" - a BEEB repeat of a classic 1975 production - and your posting could have straight out of the play with its convoluted memories and associations. |
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Kuhlau
Gender:
Posts: 60
Kasper Meier
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« Reply #14 on: 20:28:15, 08-10-2008 » |
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Can I also add my 'warmest welcome' Kuhlau. I used to contribute regularly to the Welcome thread until I got scunnered with all the shenanigans! "Enough; no more; 'Tis not so sweet now as it was before." Most gracious, Stanley. Thank you. FK |
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