The Gramophone

[gradus]

The magazine comes in for criticism from some eg Hurwitz who constantly attacks the magazine, but I happened to read a current copy today and was pleasantly surprised by the number of interesting articles and reviews that are succinct and informative. I didn't detect any particular bias or prejudice against the artists reviewed nor undue praise although John Wilson's new recording of the complete score of the operetta (so styled} My Fair Lady does get highly praised, probably justifiably given his excellent track record in musical theatre repertoire.
I won't re-subscribe as I can read it as part of my annual Ipswich Institute subscription but I think the criticism seems overdone

[pastoralguy]

It’s certainly approved immeasurably in recent years and its arrival in my iPad is something I look forward to. One of my absolute favourite activities is to pick up an old cd in a charity shop, listen to it and look up the Gramophone review to see what they said about it.

Being able to summarise a recording in prose is very skilled and it’s amazing how the writers can find the right words to describe how a performance is. I recently wrote about listening to the new Tetzlaff recording of the Elgar concerto and couldn’t really put my finger on how to describe it. I look forward to reading Gramophone’s review.

[richardfinegold]

It seems like this topic pops up periodically on the Forum. Jayne used to be a passionate advocate.
Hurwitz criticism derives from a past policy of advocating for UK artists. British readers may not even have detected the advocacy as it was more obvious to non Brits. As a regular reader I think that said bias has lessened over the past two years. W Hurwitz will always require a straw man target for his invective-he needs to rail against something to get clicks.
Personally I prefer the columns dedicated to CD box releases, historical recordings, and reviewing old Gramophone reviews and reexamining the judgement of the historical reviewer

[Barbirollians]

James Inverne nearly killed the magazine - Martin Cullingford has done a great job in recent years in restoring its reputation.