Covering a wide range of modern digital recordings of high quality, this valuable reference, now completely revised and expanded, assesses the huge and growing range of mid-priced, bargain, and super-bargain CDs of classical music, including doubles, duos, and twofers.
The authors of the acclaimed Penguin Guide to Compact Discs and Cassettes are back with the best bargains in classical music recordings. The authors evaluate interpretations as well as performances and consider both the quality of the recorded sound and the value for money in terms of playing time.
The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs and DVDsis the largest and most comprehensive survey of classical music on digital audio and video discs ever published. It covers thousands of recordings, offering candid evaluation of their relative artistic and technical merits, highlighting notable performances, and pinpointing the best buys. This guide takes into account the many hundreds of new and reissued CDs and DVDs that have appeared in recent years while also including all the major recordings of each work-from remastered vintage recordings to the latest releases. This essential reference work is designed to help select the very best video and music discs available today.
This new completely revised edition of the Penguin Guidesurveys the major classical recordings issued and reissued over the past five decades, many of which have dominated the catalogue because of their sheer excellence, irrespective of their recording dates. More thorough than ever before, it indicates key recordings on CD, as well as on DVD, with their extra video dimension, 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 acutely assessed in these pages. THE PENGUIN GUIDE TO RECORDED CLASSICAL MUSIC OFFERS- The pick of the latest releases, as well as all key established recordings The greatest historic recordings, many in outstanding new transfers (including the very first recording of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony) An in-depth survey of the best of the budget-priced CDs, including countless new issues A comprehensive new collection of 'Portraits' of the major artists - singers, conductors and instrumentalists
INDEPENDENT BOOKS OF THE YEAR This completely new edition of the Penguin Guide reviews the 1000 best classical albums 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, 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 album you will find it listed and assessed in these pages. Ranging from long-established albums 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.
Regarded as the standard guide to classical music on CD, the 2002/3 edition of The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs has a new wider trim size to allow for even more updates. This guide takes into account the many hundreds of new and reissued CDs that have appeared in recent years while also including all the highlights from the back catalog. Arranged by composer, the guide lists all major recordings from each work-from remastered vintage recordings to the latest releases-with evaluations of interpretation and performance by the authors, as well as assessments of recording accuracy and advice on the best buys for cost and quality. This essential reference work is designed to help select the very best recorded classical music available today.
More than an essential companion to the complete "Penguin Guide to Compact Discs" (1999), the "Yearbook 2000/1" reviews hundreds of brand new CDs and takes a closer look at some of the more unusual areas of the classical-music repertoire.