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The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music 2009 (Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music) | 
 enlarge | Creators: Paul Czajkowski, Ivan March, Edward Greenfield, Robert Layton
Publisher: Penguin
Category: Book
List Price: £30.00
Buy New: £18.35
You Save: £11.65 (39%)
New (22) Used (4) from £18.35
Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 9041
Media: Paperback
Pages: 1602
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 4.2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.8 x 2.6
ISBN: 0141033355
Dewey Decimal Number: 016
EAN: 9780141033358
ASIN: 0141033355
Publication Date: September 25, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Too many omissions but still the bible November 9, 2008
B. R. DAVIES
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
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.
Slight improvement, sloppy editing November 6, 2008
JBJ (UK)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
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.
 If you have the 2008 guide, don't waste your money on this October 17, 2008
Steve (Huddersfield, U.K.)
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
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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