BBC Music vs. Gramophone vs. many others.

[12tone]

So I bought a new issue of Gramophone today (July 05) for kicks. I also saw BBC Music. Since I didn't know much about them I bought the Gramophone, which I read about from GMG.

What are you thoughts on Gramophone? BBC Music?

I heard Gram when down in the last couple decades with reviews that arn't as good anymore. Is that true?

I'm just looking for a good magazine right now with respectable reviews and good articles.

[Corlyss_D]

I took Gramophone back in the mid-60s when I first started out wanting to learn how to think and talk about music, an art that don't yield easily to verbal description. After twenty years or so, I had to give it up for reasons not related to the content. At the time I was also reading Music and Musicians and Records and Recordings, competitor journals of substantially greater content and depth, both defunct now.

In the old days, Gramophone's reviews were penetrating and lengthy by today's standards. The demands of reader's short attention spans and the volume of recordings required the magazine to compromise on the substance of the reviews and therefore their quality. In the 90's I began subscribing to BBC Music because their then-editor launched a series of some fabulous in-depth special issues on Baroque Music, Opera, Ballet, Jazz, Musical Theater, Shubert, Mozart, etc. However, that didn't last long and the magazine itself is pretty much trying to satisfy the "short attention span/volume of recordings" conundrum with no more success and less prestige than Gramophone.

My advice? Caveat Emptor: If you read the mags for their longer articles or for notice about new recordings that you might otherwise miss, then I say give 'em both a whirl and pick the one you like the best. If on the other hand you want to learn how to write and think critically about music, forget both of them and read the books by Andrew Porter and Ernest Newman.

[Ralph]

I get both as well as Fanfare and American Record Guide.

The Gramophone reviews are useful to me but more as comprehensive information than as a source of recommendations.

BBC Music Magazine is my favorite of the bunch because all the articles are informative and at MY level. Their capsule reviews are quite on-point for me most of the time.

[Corlyss_D]

We forgot the cds, Ralph!

We need to get GK in here to talk about the cds and how terrific the selections are. He was commenting on that a few months back when he was moving.

I was pawing thru one of my newly liberated boxes, and found it half filled with BBC Music cds. First thing I noticed about them is they are complete pieces where Gramophone does excerpts of discs they review and unless the excerpt is a fairly short piece it's not likely to be complete. If I were to adjudge the two mags roughly equal, the tie-breaker for me would be the cds. I don't like snippets, so I'd prefer the BBC mag.

[Harvested Sorrow]

Hmm...is BBC really worth the price? I just checked on it and a year's subscription would be around $133.

[Ralph]

Hmm...is BBC really worth the price? I just checked on it and a year's subscription would be around $133.

*****

I have a lifetime Charter Subscriber rate of $6.35 per month. I guess it's more to subscribe today.

I have frequently commented on the monthly CD - the content ranges from very familiar works performed, usually, by a BBC regional orchestra to highly original programs. I have every one since the first issue and many have excellent performances of unfamiliar music.

I don't like sampler discs and have none.

[MartinPh]

I've been reading Gramophone for about ten years now, and am still enjoying it. They seem to have the widest scope, good background articles, and fairly reliable reviews generally. I am bothered by a certain chauvinism (a persistent pro-Rattle brigade, for instance), but no matter where you look, music criticism will have never be free of such subjective/ extramusical traits.

In fact, you do not need to buy Gramophone for the reviews: a few months after they appear they are put into their online database of reviews, that is accessible for free.

http://www.gramophone.co.uk

You will need to register. Then you can search the Gramophile database.

[Harvested Sorrow]

Hmm...is BBC really worth the price? I just checked on it and a year's subscription would be around $133.

*****

I have a lifetime Charter Subscriber rate of $6.35 per month. I guess it's more to subscribe today.

I have frequently commented on the monthly CD - the content ranges from very familiar works performed, usually, by a BBC regional orchestra to highly original programs. I have every one since the first issue and many have excellent performances of unfamiliar music.

I don't like sampler discs and have none.

A 13 month subscription is 74 pounds, now.

[12tone]

(a persistent pro-Rattle brigade, for instance)

This made me chuckle!

I found an article in my new Gramaphone magazine about a Rattle / Brendel concert or recording or whathave you. I have to look again.

I've been turned off of Rattle after my very first listen to him -- his Beethoven symphony cycle on EMI. Probably with one of the most dramatically professional box set designs I've seen (complete with a ribbon for aiding you in taking out the cds), Rattle's reading dripped -- nay -- oozed a so called 'Rattle only' sound that was talked about on GMG a long while back. I have cycles by Menuhin, Karajan ('63 stereo), Abbado and Harnoncourt and none of those seem as pretentious as Rattle's.

Stay away from the Rattle cycle to those who've not yet bought it!

Out of all the symphonies on there, the best he did was #1. His reading of that one was brisk and he let the timanist really let go in his work -- more than the other recordings I have. It's safe to say it's a powerful reading but do expect a Rattle-feel...and that Rattle feel was very apparent from anything he did on there.

Rattle's reading of #1: One thumb up from me. Get the single disk for it.

[Corlyss_D]

I have a lifetime Charter Subscriber rate of $6.35 per month. I guess it's more to subscribe today.

I had that too till I moved out here and lost track of some of my paperwork. Apparently that rate is available after you spend the money for the first year's subscription - i.e., when time to renew, you will be offered the option of a monthly charge as opposed to an annual subscription. I think it's a good deal. I wish I hadn't used a CC # that was near expiration. I think Gramophone offers the same deal, but I could be mistaken.

I have frequently commented on the monthly CD - the content ranges from very familiar works performed, usually, by a BBC regional orchestra to highly original programs. I have every one since the first issue and many have excellent performances of unfamiliar music.

Like I said, this would be the tie-breaker for me, esp since some of the recordings offered are rare historical performances.

[Harvested Sorrow]

Well...I thought all hope was lost, then I found this:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... 46-5221710

Seems alot more reasonable than $130 + to me.

I damn sure won't be able to get my subscription yet, but I can see it coming in the future. I thought some of you may also be interested....they have a Gramophone subscription package for $85.

[Ralph]

Well...I thought all hope was lost, then I found this:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... 46-5221710

Seems alot more reasonable than $130 + to me.

I damn sure won't be able to get my subscription yet, but I can see it coming in the future. I thought some of you may also be interested....they have a Gramophone subscription package for $85.

*****

I just renewed Gramophone for $79. I don't get the CD sampler which costs more.

[Saulsmusic]

Hi bought the BBC orchestra's performance of Nielsen's fifth.

What a waste of Money.Terrible reading of this Great Symphony.

[Harvested Sorrow]

Well...I thought all hope was lost, then I found this:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... 46-5221710

Seems alot more reasonable than $130 + to me.

I damn sure won't be able to get my subscription yet, but I can see it coming in the future. I thought some of you may also be interested....they have a Gramophone subscription package for $85.

*****

I just renewed Gramophone for $79. I don't get the CD sampler which costs more.

I like having a CD sampler with it, so I don't mind paying a bit more for that. I just think $100 + per year is over the top, as I have a subscription to another magazine that provides samplers and it cost $120 for a two year subscription. Albeit, this isn't a classical music based magazine, so standards of price vary, I suppose....

[Corlyss_D]

Every three or four months I think seriously about reviving my long defunct subscriptions to Early Music and Goldberg. And then I think about Economist, and I forget it for a while. I subscribed to EM from its first issue in 1973 until I realized I hadn't read it in months and finally let it go in 2000. Ditto Goldberg, which is one of the most frightfully expensive music magazines on the planet. The layout and eye-appeal are unmatched. Their articles are excellent. Their reviews are too brief. But their oversized format and their duplication of everything in Spanish and English make it unwieldy and cumbersome.