Canter Bridge

Conventional wisdom and damned statistics conspire to persuade that the population of classical music listeners is declining measurably year upon year. You’d never know it from reading GRAMOPHONE. Readers are typically devotees of the musical form and not about to let the rest of the world persuade them that their devotion is misplaced or–horrors–out of date. GRAMOPHONE obliges them with passionate coverage of the artists, the music, and the industry.

A case can be made that the monthly cds alone are worth the formidable price of a subscription. For those who are open to the argument, the interview of an eminent Beethoven critic on the September disk is likely to be seen as irrefutable evidence, such is the passion and understanding on display there.

The features make for fine reading and occasional riveting insight into the lives of composers and artists. The reviews are the spine of the publication.

That the population of not-what-it-used-to-be critics of this publication is so large is perhaps as much evidence of the traditionalist preferences that season our aesthetics as of any actual decline in the magazine.

For this reviewer–like many GRAMOPHONE readers a passionate amateur who can scarcely imagine life without this living legacy of music–the magazine remains a fascinating distraction and welcome visitor to my mailbox.