With our 2010 edition the Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music reached its maximum capacity, and we realized that a new approach was needed to advise readers as to the most desirable recordings available. Our chosen answer is to plan a more compact survey centring on 1,000 of the very finest issues. But, apart from operas, very few CDs or DVDs include just a single work, which means that our coverage is much greater than the book’s title would suggest. In addition, the important collections grouped under a single artist often include a great variety of music, which again considerably expands the repertoire being discussed. Ballet music is given a separate survey at the beginning of the book. Otherwise there are no better examples than Simon Preston’s collection of Bach’s organ music, the six volumes of music by Frank Bridge conducted by Richard Hickox on Chandos, Decca’s coverage of Pavarotti’s recitals or the EMI anthology devoted to Maria Callas which includes all her key recitals and complete opera sets, running overall to a box of 70 CDs.
Even more ambitious is the distinguished survey – not yet complete – of Bach’s 200-plus magnificent cantatas on BIS, performed by the Japan Bach Collegium, directed by Masaaki Suzuki. This is one of the crowning achievements of the present-day record catalogues; moreover, their SACD recordings offer remarkable realism. Although we have treated them as a set, for the moment they must be explored individually. Each has its own documentation, and all will give great pleasure and refreshment. BIS promise that one day (probably in two or three years’ time) the complete set will be ready to be published in an album, and then arrangements will be made so that the balance of the series can be added to those already acquired.
In the field of opera, where there are desirable DVD and CD versions of a given work, both will be included side by side. This applies notably to operas in which there are two generations of key recordings of comparable desirability, one on CD and one on DVD. Sometimes in other fields there is also a second outstanding version of a work that cannot be ignored, and this may also be mentioned in the text.
Our experience of the early-vintage LP catalogue, much of which is now reappearing on CD, means that we are able to expand our coverage in this area – often grouped under the name of the performer(s). These compilations include many valuable recordings of British music and are perhaps headed by the extensive anthologies of Ansermet’s recordings which Australian Decca are now making available, impressively remastered.
Although our coverage is wide, this survey is in no way intended to be a balanced one. But all the recordings listed and recommended are indispensable to one or to all of us, and we hope our readers will find our comments to be a guide to their discovery and acquisition. Some recordings may require perseverance to obtain, but all are worth seeking out. The important Australian Eloquence series of recordings is now available in the UK and they can also be obtained by American readers.
Great care has gone into the checking of CD and DVD catalogue numbers and contents to ensure that all details are correct, but the major companies are at present totally reorganizing their catalogues to make them more attractive and more competitive. EMI have brought out a huge number of reissues (usually at lower prices). There are many reissues, too, from Universal (Decca, DG and Philips), while the new catalogues (from the UK and USA) of the combined labels of Sony and RCA have caused us insoluble problems in determining which CDs are currently available and which catalogue numbers are now correct on each side of the Atlantic. The editors and publisher therefore cannot be held responsible for any mistakes which may have crept in despite all our zealous checking. When ordering recordings, readers are urged to provide their source with full details of the music and performers, as well as the catalogue number.
Compact discs regularly succumb to the deletions axe, and many highly praised CDs are likely to disappear during the lifetime of this book. But most really important and desirable recordings are eventually reissued, usually costing less!
As for the others, we can only suggest to readers that if a recording we have enthused about appears to be deleted, keep your eyes on the lists of reissues, as it will surely reappear before too long, unless it has repertoire which has little public support.
Our thanks to Roger Wells, who copy-edited the raw material for this edition; and to Kathleen March, who frequently discovers musical errors, and to Alan Livesey, who as Assistant Editor proof-reads the copy meticulously throughout at great speed, and manages to uncover still existing mistakes that occurred earlier in the assembly of the book’s text! Grateful thanks also go to all those readers who write to us to point out factual errors and to remind us of important recordings that have escaped our notice.
IVAN MARCH,
ROBERT LAYTON,
PAUL CZAJKOWSKI
and EDWARD GREENFIELD