Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Folks, it's all over. It's the end of an era. What we used to know as "The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music" (last edition was 2010), has gone from approx. 1500 pages down to a mere 400 pages. Truth be told, the writing had been on the wall for some time. Those of us waiting for the 2011 edition knew something was afoot. Why the delay? Basically, Penguin has thrown in the towel. In their Introduction to this edition they state the the guide "had reached it's maximum capacity" and that their "chosen answer is to plan a more compact survey centering on 1,000 of the very finest issues". No apologies. Just that. THEIR chosen path. What about the buying Penguin Guide public? I, for one, am bitterly disappointed in this decision. As we all know, there's a deluge of issues/reissues of great classical/historical performances these days, and a major factor must have been: How to keep up? But surely, Penguin, with all of their resources, could have gone another route? One would have been to continue the "by composer" approach of the original guide, and then (somewhat like their earlier Year Books), published a "by artist" guide separately. They could have introduced a "by conductor" guide also. Maybe have opera spun off etc.etc. Instead of that we now get (mostly), one pick of various repertoire, still organized by composer. And now, unlike the original format, we now don't even get the entire repertoire of a composer. Basically a "greatest hits" compilation. And if making the guide more compact was the priority why does Percy Grainger get 5 pages. (Brahms gets just over 3). Under Schumann, you won't find listed Furtwangler's 4th with the Berlin Philharmonic. It's not much more than a glorified version of what they did in the back pages of the 2003/4 Penguin Guide Edition. One of the primary beauties of the old Penguin Guide was that one did read discussions of various interpretations. This book will have some interest inasmuch as newer issues have come out since the 2010 Guide. (Example: The 21 CD Box Set: Furtwangler - The Great EMI Recordings"). But outside of that it is a bitter disappointment to see this guide reduced to a shell of what it once was. It could serve a function to someone who is virtually entirely new to the classical music arena. But outside of that I can only say that the Penguin Guide has gone the way of the brick and mortar record stores. At the begining of the afore-mentioned 2003/4 Penguin Guide they stated that they "seek to provide a comprehensive, yet selective coverage of this vast repertoire", and "is in itself of fascinating documentary value". Sadly, it's much, much more selective, no longer comprehensive, and as a result, not only has it lost it's documentary value, but has also lost it's heart. I will miss the eager anticipation that came with browsing the latest edition of this guide.