Ray Bayles <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>The Penguin Guide is hardly the place to get your recommendations, in my
>humble opinion.  Remember that this guide is really just the opinions of
>two men with scarce help from a few others.  There is absolutely no way
>they can listen to everything they recommend.

Neither IMO it is necessary to have listened to everything one recommends.
How does this recommendation sound to one who proposes an interest in
Beethovens symphonies for first time:

"One of Karajans (Sorry, just an example!) cycles is an exampel of how
Beethovens symphonies usually were played in modern time (the Kapellmeister
approach).  Alternative is Norrington, who is part of the HIP movement
which means <SNIP>.  If you just want to hear the works and don't care for
this, try Naxos set or even cheaper ElCheapos set, just to get the music
to low cost."

(Disclaimer: Naxos can be much more than just "the music", my exaple was
not intended to be a kick against naxos)

>This list is a much better source of information on what to add to a
>collection.

I think a book or written guide like for exampel Phil.  G.  Gouldings
guideual books can be very useful then it is very structured in many cases.
So one get the skeleton to everything ratehr quickly.  But OTOH I think the
list is better in the way that it can provide the spice.  I rather consult
the list when I already know a little and want passion then get started.
Let me illustrate: If you want to get to know world history timeline, you
don't go to the university professor and ask "How about world History?".
It is better to first consult a short summary of World History than can be
found in the encyklopedia or similar.  Then,,after that, you can ask your
prof: "Why did the French Revolution occur?" and similar, and he can
explain more on the mechanisms, give booktips, tell anecdotes and similary
more interactively help you forward and increase your interest.  [At least
that is what university teachers should be for.  Unfourtunately I have had
the experience that some professors of history are all too fucked up to
understand what they have at a uni to do, but thats another story].

To be clear: I don't think a list of this kind is bad or unuseful, not at
all, but what I doubt is that anyone gets a good "world history timeline"
with consulting a forum like this.  The variety and richdom in detail in
the list cannot be questioned.

Mats Norrman
[log in to unmask]