I have used this book for years and find it very helpful in selecting Opera recordings on CDs. These are critics who know and care about what they write, listing the many different recordings available (as of 1993 anyway!). However,MUCH has changed in the opera-CD world since then. Just as an example, all the legendary Maria Callas "live" performances of some of her greatest roles have been "officially" released by EMI after many years available only as "bootleg" versions, with a bunch more to be released this November 5th!. This is where the book shows its age and is not an acurate representation of opera on CD circa 2002. However, the selections included and reviewed are quite impressive. Until a newly up-dated edition shows it's face, this book is the one to go with.

I have been using this book for so long that it looks really bad. I can't wait for peguin to release an updated version of this book!

I purchase an average of 6-8 complete opera CDs per annum, and find this book very valuable in their selection. These authors "know their stuff" -please let them know how much we opera buffs appreciate their book and how about an update? Lots of new recordings(not to mention singers) in the last eight years!! Please keep a good reference going....

Nobody was reporting on the changes in the newspaper industry as the chains were becoming larger and more dominant, owning 80% of the nearly 1,500 newspapers in the US. In the middle 1990s, journalists no longer working for newspapers (to avoid conflict of interest) launched the Project on the State of the American Newspaper, projected to produce some 20 articles that would appear in the American Journalism Review and be the foundation for two volumes.

Leaving The Reader Behind: The Age Of Corporate Newspapering surveys a generation of relentless "corporatization" that has radically transformed journalism and newspaper publishing. Unprecedented in the 300 year history of American newspapers, the blitz of buying, selling, and consolidation of newspapers has effected the industry from small town weeklies to the nationally renowned dailies. Gene Roberts (an immensely respected newspaper reporter and editor) has provided the reader with a unique and documented history that is as engaging as it is informative. Leaving The Reader Behind is essential reading for aspiring journalists and students of American newspaper publishing.

This 02/03 yearbook, which is designed to keep the biannual Penguin Guide to Classical Music, is similar to its excellent forebears, and even has some improvements. Of particular note is that DVDs are now included with CDs in the ratings rather than being segregated in its own section in back. I would like to see Penguin continue this format when it publishes its 04 guide next year.

Useful, easy to use and well-written.

Well, we have been receiving updates in the Penguin Guide a lot. This latest offering is well up to the standard, and many new releases and a considerable amount of new repertoire are covered here. However, I cannot quite give this book full recommendation because they do not quite understand what sort of playing is poor value and what is not. They think that an hour is not good value at premium price but is definitely good value at mid-price. Also, they have criticised some recordings unfairly, such as the Abbado Dvorak New World, which is actually a better performance than they say so. But overall, I find this book slightly disappointing and I cannot recommend it fully.

For any collector of classical music this book is a must have resource. Keeping ahead of, or even up with the amount of classical recordings in today's market is a near impossibility, but with some help from Penguin you can at least make an attempt to. I find some disagreement with some choices and know that I find they leave out some of what I consider to be good recordings, but it's mainly just personal taste, I have never been unhappy with a recording I purchased based in the recomendation of the Penguin staff.

As has been the case ever since I began reading these wonderful guides in the late 80s, this volume updating the complete 1999 compilation of the Penguin Guide is comprehensive, entertaining, and highly informative. It contains reviews of thousands upon thousands of new and reissued CDs, which are full of wit and insight and which are up to the authors' usual high standards. The separate alphabetical listings on invididual performers, which unfortunately were omitted from the 1999 guide because of lack of space, are incredibly valuable.

The Penguin Guide to Bargain Compact CDs, 2nd Ed. is a helpful and valued tool. I have used it alone in checking CDs and also together with the more comprehensive 1997 Penguin Guide and the Gramophone CD books. If there had to be a choice I would probably opt for the new 1999 Penguin Guide to CDs that just came out. For those seeking low price quality CDs, this guide is excellent although some of the more contemporary and obscure (lesser known)composers are scarely covered.

This is a keeper but should be supplemented by a comprehensive guide as well for those really into classical CDs. Now, if Penguin only had an Index, like Gramophone? But, Penguin justifies each of its choices rather than just reviewing one and listing others as does Gramophone.

For this alone, pushed I opt for Penguin over Gramophone. Incidentally look up almost any work and seldom is there agreement on the best works. Are music critics like economists, too? Mgmtdr@hotmail.com

This volume of the Penguin Guide focuses on mid-range, budget and super budget CDs only. It is a complement to the 1996 guide as well as the 1998 update. It is particularly interesting because it reviews many older yet famous recordings that I was not familiar with and makes collecting easier and less risk taking as it rates sound quality. It's nice to know that many great recordings are available for a fraction of the cost of their full price editions . Highly recommended.

I won't rehash the accolades this guide has received, nor will I question its usefulness. I have spent many hours poring over its contents, and my CD collection is better for it. Having said that, this guide carries the strong British bias of the three authors, and it's not hard to find it. For example, Britten and Elgar both merit extensive entries, with a liberal sprinkling (20+) of rosettes between them. Bartók gets a far smaller entry, with one measly rosette, and not even the Stravinsky Edition merits the coveted prize. There's little Copland and Ives (especially where chamber music is concerned--some important recordings missing here), less Carter, and *no* Cage or Feldman. Perhaps even more telling is that when the authors see fit to award a rosette to the likes of Berlin (Annie get your gun), Gershwin (Porgy & Bess) or Kern (Showboat), it's for recordings by the LPO or London Sinfonietta! Now, really. There are *many* more examples I could cite, but you get the idea. Anyway, buy and use this book, but you'll need to supplement it to get more balanced coverage (like, for starters, with Ted Libbey's excellent and newly-revised guide).

I've been using the Penguin Guide to Compact Discs under its various names for as long as it has been published. Together with Gramophon Magazine's Good CD Guide, it is one of the indispensable tools to use in winnowing through the mountains of recordings issued for popular compositions, such as the Vivaldi Four Seasons, and for discovering compositions, composers and performers you might not have considered previously.

The Guide does not pretend to be a Schwann's guide to all CDs in print. Rather, it is a selection from what is available, and it is wonderfully helpful. The taste and erudition of the reviewers is almost always on target, always allowing for differing tastes in music and performance.

This new edition is better than previous ones because it includes even more recordings, and because it does so in a larger format.

This is definitely a must-have.

If sometimes you have been encountered by the dilema of chosing between several interpretations of a certain work and finally take the risk of spend your money in one... that did not suit your tastes; then, you will find this book very useful to get more certainity at those moments.

First of all, it is virtually impossible to have the same tastes of the editors of this book, but this is not its objective neither.

It presents perpectives of the sound, interpretation and general quality of the recordings and the people who wrote this has listened to a HUGE amount of selections, between versions of a work and other ones. So you can rely on them as they actually can be consider as experts in the matter.

They have a special qualification for the recordings and gives you a reference based on their personal tastes. The rosette is the highest ranking of a recording and then you have three to one "*s" which means that more is better.

You can actually buy your recordings based on their references and get at least 95% of probability for high satisfaction.

It is a nice way to get you informed before running to the CD store...!

The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs is a superb guide. There are many explanatory reviews. This edition is dated vs. the later Bargain CDs and 1999 versions. The Penguin Guides lack indexes to composers, works, conductors and performers. On the other hand and in contrast to Gramophone Guides, Penguin rates each CD reviewed. Gramophone has the indexes but then takes one CD or maybe two from each work and reviews it. But then other versions are listed, some with stars indicating higher

desirability. Penguin rates each version (CD) reviewed and provides reasoning for rating some better than others.

I really rate this 4 1/2*. With indexes, this would get 5* and a Rosette. The sensitive music lover will have a current copy of Penguin and Gramophone guides, along perhaps with one smaller book that lists a few recommended works for certain popular classical works.

I have three copies of Penguin guides. I often take one into Barnes and Noble to check while looking at CDs. I use both Penguin and Gramophone in reviewing CDs on auction or for sale.

One major problem is that Gramophone and Penguin tend to pick a different version of each work as best. So, which is? There isn't too much agreement. This is an advantage for the person who has the time or inclination to experiment. Another problem is some of the more current composers, especially in the 20th century are overlooked.

These problems are insignificant. If I see a new work, there

is the gut. Also, some CD houses will permit returning versions that aren't as expected.

This is a MUST. Look for the Bargain CD guide and also the latter version though. Gramophone is also a must, especially the 1999 edition.

Busloads of classical CDs have been issued - some

would say dumped - on the market in the last decade.

No one publication can assess them all, but

these writers, all contributors to Gramophone,

Britain's oldest magazine about classical recorded

music, have a better hope than most. They are

particularly good at pointing out interesting,

underpublicised reissues or bargain releases that

the conventional press have overlooked. They are

less good on releases from really small companies,

or those aimed at non-English speaking markets.

Their overview is careful and a bit too conservative:

if a performance is eccentric but inspired, they will

sooner dismiss it as eccentric than praise it as

exciting. But you will soon get used to their critical

stance, accommodate it and learn to read between

the lines. As a source of information about new

CDs this guide is easy to use and hard to better.

Richard Bernas,