Bbc Music Magazine Top 1000 Cds Guide: A Critical Guide to the Best Classical Music Cds [Paperback]

Erik Levi (Editor), Calum Macdonald (Editor), Malcolm MacDonald (Editor), British Broadcasting Corporation (Corporate Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1996

Choosing from among the thousands of classical recordings available at record stores is a daunting task. Now, BBC Music Magazine Top 1000 CDs Guide offers both the beginning collector and the serious connoisseur informed assistance in finding the preferred recordings of the most significant classics. The user-friendly book contains reviews, a section on how to expand your CD library, and articles on the impact of historical recordings.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Selecting which performance of a classical piece to purchase on CD can be daunting, given the incredible number of CDs available. Fortunately, several books meant to ease the task have been published. The latest is from the people who issue the BBC Music Magazine. As in the magazine, entries are arranged in five categories: chamber music, choral and song, instrumental, opera, and orchestral. Each entry includes composer, title, performers, record label and number, recording process, and price range. The helpful reviews consider the quality of both the performance and the recording. Unlike The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs and Cassettes (Penguin, 1994), one of the more popular and established competitors, this current work usually lists only one recording of a work, so there is no opportunity for comparisons of different performances. Still, this reasonably priced work from a reputable source is a welcome addition to the field.?Michael Colby, Univ. of California Libs., Davis
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 367 pages
• Publisher: Amadeus Pr (October 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1574670182
• ISBN-13: 978-1574670189
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 4.9 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,693,909 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Older recordings bu still useful., January 19, 2012

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BasicRep "chasnjim" (Charleston SC) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Bbc Music Magazine Top 1000 Cds Guide: A Critical Guide to the Best Classical Music Cds (Paperback)

I have been a reader on and off of the BBC Music Magazine since it was first issued. I had worn out my copy of the NPR Classical guide [well worth getting] The NPR Guide to Building a Classical CD Collection : The 350 Essential Works and went hunting for some good review books. This is one of several I ordered. It was published in 1996 so a lot of the releases that are recommended have been reissued on other versions, but it is fairly easy to do a quick search to find the recommended recordings. If you are familiar with the 5 star performance/sound ratings from the magazine, you will not find that here. I guess the theory is that they are all 4-5 stars.

The recommendations are for one recording for each work. While that may make it easier for some, it would have been nicer if there had been at least a few for each work. As it is, they seem to suggest some good recordings, although I would not agree with many of the suggestions as a 'First Choice'. As a guide to help expand some recordings in your collection, or to find out about works that you did not know about, it is quite useful. The writing is fairly clear and to the point, without the flowery prose that some of the other books out there use. All in all an enjoyable read, and a decent resource for recordings up thru the 90's. As always, there is a UK-centric bias to some of the suggestions [I mean Elgar is good an all, but a dozen works recommended?] and those old British conductors tend to get recommended a lot. I cannot say that the works/performances they recommend are bad by any means, but would not discount another recording from its lack of a review.

Stats: The book is organized into 5 parts, Chamber Music, Choral and Song, Instrumental, Opera and Orchestral, with an alphabetical composer listing in each section. Label, pricing and recording time are all listed, with 3-4 works per page, so concise but not too short reviews for each work. The number of composers is good, spread out from baroque to modern, with a good mix from every era.

As a very useful book, and probably cheap used, it is definitely worth the purchase. I would rate it closer to 3 1/2 stars, but will give them the bump up.