Gramophone resurgent!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I can't begin to understand why any music lover wouldn't enjoy much of this edition, as many other editions.

Isn't this your problem, Jayne?

Do you expect a magazine to be tailored to your interests every month?

Yes. As someone on a low salary to begin with (and which is about to become considerably smaller) this is exactly what I demand of if I'm going to part with pennies. I will only buy those publications that do precisely this - Tempo, Perspectives, Early Music, The Musical Times. Perfect tailoring with each issue.

So stop looking constantly for reasons to hate the Gramophone and appreciate what it has to offer NOW.

But I do appreciate it - to my own standards. That's why I don't buy it.

Take a look at Cullingford's editorial, linking new music to new not-so-new-tech. Thats' right - Esa's iPad. A special concert of Lutoslawski, Sibelius and Salonen in - Apple's Berlin Store ""...

At the risk of sounding cynical and stupid (but then why should I stop now?), I've just got back from a day looking at Hockney's i-Pad paintings. Those (and his creative attitude to the possibilities of the not-so-new-tech) I find inspiring. I do not mind admitting that I was in tears of joy (and a whole package of other emotions) at the exhibition. In contrast, a "special concert" by a decent conductor of repertoire I already know, just seems flat and a bit desperate.

[teamsaint]

well, I have just read posts 45 and 46.
It is Saturday tomorrow, pocket money day. I thought after post #45 i would buy the mag, sounds ace.
but after# 46 I think it sounds a bit ropey.



I think what I SHOULD do is borrow a copy before Proms 1 and 2.....

actually, JLW has persuaded me......but with Ferney- inspired caution.

Pity I'm not getting sent those free copies of IRR any more....

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I thought after post #45 i would buy the mag, sounds ace.
but after# 46 I think it sounds a bit ropey.



actually, JLW has persuaded me......but with Ferney- inspired caution.

You've probably made a good decision - I'll almost certainly have a look at it when I'm next in Leeds Library. The accounts of how conductors get to a reading of the Beethoven Symphonies sound intereting, but I want more from my fivers. And, as ever, jlw's bossy tone provoked exactly the opposite reaction from me than the one I presumed she'd hoped for. Sorry.

[teamsaint]

You've probably made a good decision - I'll almost certainly have a look at it when I'm next in Leeds Library. The accounts of how conductors get to a reading of the Beethoven Symphonies sound intereting, but I want more from my fivers. And, as ever, jlw's bossy tone provoked exactly the opposite reaction from me than the one I presumed she'd hoped for. Sorry.

Oh I think lots of us LIKE her bossy tone........

A fiver you say?............

BTW, have you spun the Brahms Choral stuff yet, Ferney? can't wait to hear what you think.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Oh I think lots of us LIKE her bossy tone........

The words "tree", "barking", "wrong", "the" and "up" form an orderly queue, ts.

A fiver you say?............

It was about this price when I last looked. Look; Gramophone's a magazine for the general "classical" Music-loving public, not a specialist "journal" like the stuff I mentioned - its tone and content has always been more user-friendly. For me, it's just not really "unmissable" or particularly impressive in recent decades - I don't see why it should upset jlw that I should find i so and communicate my disappointment in the context of a Thread arising from one of its suggestions. And whlst I can understand that she might find such n opinion "cynical", I do not think it appropriate on public forums to use the word "stupid" about other people's views.

BTW, have you spun the Brahms Choral stuff yet, Ferney? can't wait to hear what you think.

Yes - apologies for being tardy in responding - the set arrived about ten days ago and I've been playing the discs regularly. A very enthusiastic comment on the "What are you listening to?" Thread is forthcoming - but many thanks for the nudge. Wonderful Music, beautifully performed and recorded.

[jayne lee wilson]

Isn't this your problem, Jayne?


Yes. As someone on a low salary to begin with (and which is about to become considerably smaller) this is exactly what I demand of if I'm going to part with pennies. I will only buy those publications that do precisely this - Tempo, Perspectives, Early Music, The Musical Times. Perfect tailoring with each issue.


But I do appreciate it - to my own standards. That's why I don't buy it.


At the risk of sounding cynical and stupid (but then why should I stop now?), I've just got back from a day looking at Hockney's i-Pad paintings. Those (and his creative attitude to the possibilities of the not-so-new-tech) I find inspiring. I do not mind admitting that I was in tears of joy (and a whole package of other emotions) at the exhibition. In contrast, a "special concert" by a decent conductor of repertoire I already know, just seems flat and a bit desperate.

Er... I wasn't really thinking of YOU, being cynical & daft etc fhg...... can't see much wrong with Esa-p-s's Berlin concert though, spreading the good word etc., & not as if any of us can hear it (or be bored by it if that's how you feel ) now.... **

Anyway this was a summer polemic, sorry picnic, no! Polemic. So full of wine & sunshine, just wanted to share the love...

Gramophone is VG these days at telling me about something I didn't know I wanted***. Sure it could work for others too if only they knew or bothered... not you fhg, you're er...above all that. But those of us with no training or academic musical attainment but an insatiable curiosity need our Glossy Mags. Especially now Radio 3 has **** ***....

I'm full of wine and sunshine, enthusiasm, VW, Norgard and Stenhammer just got here.... enjoy your summer lovergeliebte -

That fuss about the HvK mag. It WAS bloody stupid. Wood for the trees. Not even as if I'll be accessing it anyway.
Now, back to the summer night on the river...

**Hey fhg! I've got one of those Hockneys, b/w print from Guardian Eyewitness, stuck up on my kitchen door! That Woldgate snowy one with the stump.
***I didn't know Nordheim's Tempest Ballet EVEN EXISTED until today...

[Roehre]

Er... I wasn't really thinking of YOU, being cynical & daft etc fhg...... can't see much wrong with Esa-p-s's Berlin concert though, spreading the good word etc., & not as if any of us can hear it (or be bored by it if that's how you feel ) now.... **

Anyway this was a summer polemic, sorry picnic, no! Polemic. So full of wine & sunshine, just wanted to share the love...

Gramophone is VG these days at telling me about something I didn't know I wanted***. Sure it could work for others too if only they knew or bothered... not you fhg, you're er...above all that. But those of us with no training or academic musical attainment but an insatiable curiosity need our Glossy Mags. Especially now Radio 3 has **** ***....

I'm full of wine and sunshine, enthusiasm, VW, Norgard and Stenhammer just got here.... enjoy your summer lovergeliebte -

That fuss about the HvK mag. It WAS bloody stupid. Wood for the trees. Not even as if I'll be accessing it anyway.
Now, back to the summer night on the river...

**Hey fhg! I've got one of those Hockneys, b/w print from Guardian Eyewitness, stuck up on my kitchen door! That Woldgate snowy one with the stump.
***I didn't know Nordheim's Tempest Ballet EVEN EXISTED until today...

[teamsaint]

the person that perfects a method of including the subtleties and nuances of the spoken word into the internet forum posting will be a genius indeed.

Anybody working on that certainly wont be barking up the wrong tree.......

[Sir Velo]

Why mention this now? Because the 08/14 issue is a rich fruitcake

Do you mean it is stodgy and indigestible?

[richardfinegold]

The mail just came today and contained a pleasant surprise. I had taken out a subscription to the print version of Gramophone last week and was surprised when my first issue arrrived 3 days later (years past when I had a subscription it would take forever to get a transatlantic version that seemingly traveled at the speed of Horatio Nelson). Today I received a 5 CD set of Nikolaus Harnoncourt: The Symphony Collection on Harmonia Mundi , apparently a gift for the subscription.
I haven't really cared for any NH recordings that I have heard that weren't JS Bach so I never would have purchased this and will give it a listen.
I had purchased the subscription because after sampling a few issues under the new management I was sufficiently impressed by the content to try it again and the savings are substantial for a subscription. I agree with ferney that while improved, they haven't quite recaptured their glorious past. It does appear that they have their business side on cracking good form on this side of the pond, so that's encouraging.

[jayne lee wilson]

Do you mean it is stodgy and indigestible?

Thankyou Sir V! Another fine example. Two sneers for democracy etc.

It's sad that those who gave up on the Gramophone during Inverne's Incumbency (very damaging, catching Software-edititis and Populismitis at the same time, not to mention glamourshots...) are seemingly disaffected for ever. I think I only stuck with it by "loving not wisely but too well", unable to let go of something that meant so much to me starting out in the 1970s, especially with the strong links to R3 (and look what's happening to that...).

But it's important to see it as a different entity now, an extensive print-and-digital compendium from which you pick and choose each month, or browse the archive. The HvK mag is just a file somewhere, to open or ignore. The attempt to cram so much in can verge on the chaotic sometimes (though it helps if, unlike me, you look at the contents pages ), but I rather like the serendipity that may follow from getting a bit lost. Or go back to read a 50-year old edition - just to see how dull it could sometimes be. There is now a reviews database, which, if you find them difficult, should make searches easier - but it comes at a premium (Gramophone in Club Class, - ). I find the archive good enough, especially as I keep running into excellent Collection articles...

So an ad in the print edition for an HvK file... is just "another part of the forest", really. Or a rather hard currant in a fruitcake, the bit you leave out for the birds. And you never were meant to eat it all at once...

[mikealdren]

Jayne's comments whetted my appetite and I bought the August issue; £5.50 well spent.

It's easy to look back with rose tinted specs (and I suspect most of us need specs now). I gave up Gramophone when it sank so low but I've been clearing out old copies from the attic recently and there were always dull issues among the good.

IMHO, my earliest copies, from the 1960s were not as good as the magazine got later, there was some very poor reviewing. It was also easier to give longer reviews when there were fewer recordings each month. What do you think?

Mike

[amateur51]

Thankyou Sir V! Another fine example. Two sneers for democracy etc.

It's sad that those who gave up on the Gramophone during Inverne's Incumbency (very damaging, catching Software-edititis and Populismitis at the same time, not to mention glamourshots...) are seemingly disaffected for ever.

Tha's enticing me, jlw ah said tha's enticing me

[MickyD]

The news about Gramophone is tempting in a way, but my feelings are now that having switched to IRR, it continues to give me just what I need each month...a full and succinct round-up of new issues and plenty of reviews (admittedly not always by the best reviewers) and satisfactory for me.

[Beef Oven!]

I'm thinking about a digital subscription for the digital mag, digital archive and reviews database (£64).

Does anyone have this already, and can give me a view of its merit or otherwise?

Are there any special offers about?