The Art-Music, Literature and Linguistics Forum

I started subscribing to "The Gramophone Magazine" in 1963. I have every issue since then, except for a brief hiatus between the mid 1980s and 1991.

After scanning through the new edition I have finally grasped the nettle and cancelled my subscription.

This is NOT the magazine I knew and loved for so many decades. The reviews of new releases are now squeezed into the middle of a glossy magazine which is more about Music in general than reviewing cds. I am utterly fed up skimming through reviews which are superficial to the point of absurdity.

"International Record Review" (and Musicweb) will now be my sources of reference.

Another fantastic resource for professional CD reviews is clofo.com (CLOFO stands for Classical Lost and Found) :). The reviews cover all the main releases of lesser-known composers (since January 2006) with a few reviews of recordings of mainstream repertoire thrown in for good measure. Each month (or sometimes twice a month), a CROCKS (Classical Releases of Current Key Significance) newsletter containing reviews of recent recordings will be issued. The reviews are written by Bob McQuiston, who provides excellent, positive (none of the reviews are negative), unbiased, and detailed writings. The recordings are rated as follows (in my own words):

-Recommended-Good music, good sound
-Recommended Best Find-Great music, good sound
-Audiophile-Good music, great sound
-Audiophile Best Find-Great music, great sound

Reading these reviews have given me great pleasure-I'm sure you'll find them worthwhile reading as well :)!

Ok,the correct thread,this time (I had my mind on my supper,I'm afraid! Apologies for this) :-[ ;D
As I was saying.......you won't regret it,Dundonnell! My back copies of IRR are piling up already. I find myself leafing through them on a regular basis,like I used to with Gramophone,re-reading reviews,finding ones I previously overlooked & leafing through them for an old review of some cd that has taken my fancy. I remember thinking it was a little dry at first,but now I like it because it cuts out all the waffle & just gives me what I want. Page after page of reviews! Hopefully,my December issue will be arrive soon!

Oh, I already know how good IRRC is :)  I have been buying both magazines ever since IRRC started(I THINK that I have every issue).

Stopping "The Gramophone" will both save me money and help keep my blood pressure under control ;D

Since IRR started? I might have known you'd have got there before me,Dundonnell! :( ;D
Still,it's nice to know IRR Magazine is good for you're health! :)
Some of the bilge in Gramophone really did get MY blood boiling!
I vividly remember,as a teenager (living as I did in a small village) my father used to get it for me when he visited town. The anticipation as I leafed through those pages,looking through the ads & reviews for some new 'exotic' sounding release!

I'm surprised it's taken you so long, Dundonnell. I gave up with the Gramophone years ago and rely entirely on my nose and it rarely fails me!  :) Sometimes I read reviews in IRR retrospectively and learn that my nose is in good working order!

I can't help wishing I'd kept some of my old copies of Gramophone! Of course,in those pre internet days,it was also a vital source for ordering & purchasing recordings. I would comb through the mail order ads & send off for discount Lps from shops like Oliver Crombie & Tandy's (not the electrical retailer!),who always used to have big two (or even three!) page ads in the Magazine. The back pages were good for,amongst others,the Russian Record Company,Michael G Thomas (they had allot of wierd off 'air stuff',including those infamous Aries Lps!). Also,RMR records was brilliant for cheap secondhand LPs. I got loads of stuff from them. I'd sit there poring through all these mail order lists & 'drooling' over (not literally!) catalogues from the likes of Philips,EMI,Deutsch Grammophon,before big labels like that got boring!!

Residual loyalty ;D

Gramophone is one of those magazines that should just stop being published. They're not helping classical music IMHO. If anything, they're hindering the reader by not reviewing more recordings and getting lesser-known composers names out there so people can go and discover their music. I own one issue of Gramophone. It was a Bartok issue and I have to say that I wasn't impressed with the writing at all. The article on Bartok was nothing more than a short biography with key works being discussed along the way. I mean this is such a generic way to write and has been done to death. I won't be buying another issue of Gramophone again! That's for sure. Like Colin has already mentioned, MusicWeb International is a good site for reviews, especially since there seems to be so many reviews of lesser-known repertoire.

I need to check out IRR. I don't think I've been to their site yet. Usually, I just rely on my own musical instincts and I have say when I've done this I've only had a few major disappointments. Of course, research into the composer you're interested in helps out as well.

"International Record Review" is a really superb magazine, John :)

It does nothing but review record releases plus the occasional music book review and a letters page. The reviews are lengthy and in-depth and are written with great erudition by decent, sensible critics. By and large they don't tend to go for comparisons between recordings but just give you a straight and honest review. Not every new release gets in but the more esoteric certainly does. The reviews have been criticised for being, in the main, laudatory but that is because the mediocre does not get a review ;D

I cannot praise it enough :)

http://recordreview.co.uk/index.php (http://recordreview.co.uk/index.php)

Your post pricked my interest Mr. D - I have just sent off for a random sample issue. Pity about the typos on the subscription pages - left to the office boy I suppose. How is their proof-reading and accuracy in general?

The most recent issue of Gramophone was the final straw. Tedious and obsessed with 'celebrity musicians' - even the covers are appalling. I even prefer BBC Music Magazine as at least you get an accompanying CD of complete works.

I got rid of it and changed over to IRR Magazine some time ago. Those covers are a moot point. I just had a look at their website now,out of curiosity. Those awful pictures of composers. I remember one really apalling bad one showing (if I remember correctly) Beethoven as he would look if he was alive now.
Worst IRR Magazine cover so far? Tasmin Little on the front. A simply terrible photo which made her look like Porky Pig!

Incidentally,this is woefully off topic,but isn't that a particularly wonderful photo of Granville Bantock that you have chosen as your new 'Avatar',or whatever they call those things?!

Anyway,better leave that for now. Hope you're not dressing up in those clothes,Vandermolen?! Great for getting in the right mood!!I remember my mother had some very old Japanese or Chinese clothes. I believe they were over a hundred years old. I recall putting the gents outfit on and walking down the road in it (while my parents were out) for a lark! Luckily there were no neighbors or ambulances around! Of course,this is what comes of discovering,the now very un pc, Sax Rohmer in your local library and watching too many Fu Manchu films! Not to mention the 'Water Margin'!! ::) :o
Please note,I was a teenager then! ;D

Great lead...and free too!

CLOFO is an underrated resource,but a little too nice for me,I'm afraid. Musicweb and IRR Magazine get it about right for me! Although,I preferred Gramophone,in it's heyday,to IRR.A pity it can't still be rescued from those idiots and restored to it's former glory. They should have it taken off them. Vandals! Gramophone was an institution. As a teenager,I could hardly wait to get my hands on my copy! It was an event!! ;D

As it was to me, Cilgwyn.
I had an arrangement with a bookstore in Rotterdam, that they always kept a number for me. Later they told me they ordered the Gramphone specially for me. I was the only one who bought the magazine.
It was in those days prior to the cd. There were that marvelous record shops in London who advertised in the Gramophone. First I kept all the magazines, but years later I took the interesting pages out of it. Thanks to Gramophone I discovered Havergal Brian, who always remained a kind of a companion for me.
But, alas, the Gramophone became less interesting, AND the bookstore had to close its doors.

Cilgwyn, I think you'll empathise with many of the comments here (as will many of us) -

http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2013/10/flash-gramophone-is-sold-off.html (http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2013/10/flash-gramophone-is-sold-off.html)

 ;)

Well,well,well!! :o It was just,sort of,going to happen,wasn't it. Now it's got another chance..................

We don't need Gramophine. We've got International Record Review, fully up to the standards Gramophone used to live up to.

Interesting viewpoint! Even the name seems outdated. Although,IRR includes the word record of course. Mind you Lps are still being manufactured.......but gramophones!! Of course,if you call it anything else it wouldn't be Gramophone!! In fact I wouldn't care to post the names I have given to the Haymarket version. Some of them are pretty fruity!
IRR certainly does the job as erato has pointed out. Do we need it,even if it can be improved upon? Particurlarly,if we're already into a subscription!
Having said that,if the new owners do restore it to it's former glory I'm quite happy with that. I'm just a little dubious,that's all. Magazines are all such glossy dumbed down rags these days;and IRR Magazine has sort of cornered it's market. It will have to be very good for us to abandon our beloved IRR Magazine for Gramophone!!
Maybe they could bring back 'Records & Recording','Short Wave Magazine','Lilliput' and 'Shiver and Shake' (darn,I'm too old for that one! :() while they're at it!! ;D

On the other hand,maybe I'll be able to buy the new improved Gramophone from my local,independent newsagent,instead of having to receive it by post! Hint! Hint!

NB: Hope they bring back 'Quarterly retrospect'. Oh,and no silly cover mount cds! ;D (Although the original Gramophone ones were useful for replacing damaged ones)

Ok,got the post right,at last!! ;D