D. Stephen Heersink wrote:

>Lastly, the Penguin Guide is more economical, at the expense of not
>always being the most timely.  But with the annual updates, it gives
>the economically-oriented buyers (like me) a chance to evaluate all the
>previous year's releases, not only in context to each other, but to the
>releases from the dawn of CDs.  Perhaps it's not as thrilling as waiting
>for the next issue of Fanfare or ARG, but it's more to the point, more
>exhaustive, and more economical.

Don't agree here.  As others have pointed out the fresh reviews each year
are small in number.  I'll guess 25%.  So that means that each year we're
paying for a lot of unneccesary text.

The coverage is by no means as comprehensive as it could be and I am often
bemused by some of the ommisions.

There is also much too much space devoted to big names especially Mozart.
Lesser know composers are worth listening to too!

The compilations section at the back is a waste of time as far as I'm
concerned.  I never buy CDs featuring more that one composer.

So all in all only around 10% of the guide is of any use to me.  That's
why my copy is 5 years out of date.

In a similar veign.....  You folks in the US often mention the Schwann
Opus.  I have tried to obtain this in the UK without success.  Is it a
complete CD catalogue? One retailer told me it is a quarterly magazine.

Bob Draper
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