Steve Schwartz replies to Richard Pennycuick:

>>I've been reading Gramophone for nearly forty years and I have to agree
>>that it's a shadow of what it once was.  The British bias has worried
>>me for years
>
>I *liked* the "British bias." I mean, at least I found out something
>about the musical scene outside my own country.  What finally turned me
>off was that the articles, formerly so well-written and so informative,
>became not.

Like Steve and others, I'm a little bemused by complaints about "British
bias" in a British periodical.

What's more, it has to be said that this generosity only extends to
British performers, not British music, which tends to be considered in
a much less prejudicial spirit by American reviewers.

My main beef with the magazine - aside from the lack of reviews for
smaller independents who can't or won't stump up the advertising protection
money - is that the omission of reviewers' names from earlier reviews
posted into Gramophile gives us no clue whether to trust them or not.
Only the eminently trustworthy John Steane and Michael Oliver are likely
to be revealed by stylistic analysis!

Christopher Webber,  Blackheath, London,  UK.
http://www.nashwan.demon.co.uk/zarzuela.htm
"ZARZUELA!"