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GRAMOPHONE is published by Haymarket Consumer, Teddington Studios, Broom Road, Teddington, Middlesex TW11 9BE, United Kingdom. www.gramophone.co.uk email gramophone@haymarket.com Volume 89 Number 1077

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The November issue of Gramophone is on sale from Nov 2; the December issue will be on sale from Nov 23 (both UK). Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of statements in this magazine but we cannot accept responsibility for errors or omissions, or for matters arising from clerical or printers’ errors, or an advertiser not completing his contract. Regarding concert listings, all information is correct at the time of going to press. Letters to the editor requiring a personal reply should be accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope. We have made every effort to secure permission to use copyright material. Where material has been used inadvertently or we have been unable to trace the copyright owner, acknowledgement will be made in a future issue. Printed in England by Wyndeham Heron. ISSN 0017-310X. © 2011 haymarket consumer. All rights reserved North American edition: Gramophone (USPS 881080) is published 13 times a year by Haymarket Magazines Ltd, c/o Mercury International Ltd of 365 Blair Road, Avenel, New Jersey 07001. For North American subscription rates please contact: Tel: 1-866918-1446; email: haymarket@imsnews.com. Periodicals paid at Rahway, NJ. Postmaster please send address correction changes to Gramophone, c/o Mercury International at the above address.

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THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS

ditorial

Founded in 1923 by Sir Compton Mackenzie and Christopher Stone as ‘an organ of candid opinion for the numerous possessors of gramophones’

Reviews and reviewers, front and centre Leading music writer and lecturer RICHARD WIGMORE was as surprised as anyone by what he found on his in-depth Vivaldi quest for this issue. ‘Intensive immersion in Vivaldi, on disc and in the archives in Turin, has led not to narcolepsy, as I’d halffeared,’ he says, ‘but renewed delight and astonishment at his inventive vigour.’

Since Sir Compton Mackenzie first conceived the idea of this magazine, it has changed its look many times. Yet it has always remained true to the principles he set out in his first editorial (quoted above in each issue): ‘an organ of candid opinion for the numerous possessors of gramophones’.

This latest design, not so very far from the one you’re used to, cleaves even more closely to that vision. Our esteemed panel of reviewers are even more central (indeed,

For FABRICE FITCH, reviewer, musicologist and composer, this edition brought an assignment any early music specialist would relish. ‘Meeting the charismatic viol player, conductor, director and softly spoken controversialist Jordi Savall at his home near Barcelona – not a bad summer assignment!’ he says, of profiling Savall to mark his 70th birthday.

in this issue there are more reviews than before) and they have a new mark of distinction in their armoury. Editor’s Choice, the accolade we bestow on the finest discs every month, is now Gramophone Choice – but any critic who feels strongly that a recording shouldn’t have missed the cut can now award it a Critic’s Choice badge. But they have a limited number to issue each year, so must choose with care – and passion!

The reviews themselves are set out so that they can run to greater length if needed, with the Recording of the Month given a full two pages (something Rob Cowan seizes gratefully for this issue, not least because the disc in question features a favourite composer). And in a new feature, ‘The Specialist’s Guide To…’, reviewers recommend an essential library of recordings for their niche areas of interest – beginning with Richard Fairman on rare French operas. It’s a mustread for those of us who enjoy becoming anoraks in out-of-the-way

‘Jordi Savall, that pioneer of early music, turns 70. His painstakingly researched concept albums have influenced the entire industry’

ROB COWAN is not only one of the UK’s best-known authorities on music (as a Radio 3 presenter) and Gramophone’s contributing editor, he is also a Bartók fanatic. So when a superb new recording featuring James Ehnes playing the violin and viola concertos turned up for review, he didn’t hesitate to recommend it for Recording of the Month.

FOR THE FULL LIST OF GRAMOPHONE REVIEWERS, TURN TO PAGE 39

subjects. You’ll notice throughout a more literary feel to the features, as Gramophone is a home of great writing about music. But we also hope they are more sharply defined – so our interview slot ‘A Conversation With…’, for instance, gives way to ‘The Musician And The Score’, in which a leading player shares his or her understanding of specific works (starting with the Emerson Quartet’s ever-eloquent cellist David Finckel discussing Mozart’s Prussian Quartets). We also celebrate two important milestones in this issue. Jordi Savall, that pioneer of early music, turns 70. His ultra-lavish, painstakingly researched concept albums have, arguably, influenced the entire industry and, in a fascinating interview with Fabrice Fitch, he reveals the process of their creation. And there’s research in Turin as Richard Wigmore visits the home of the immense Naïve Vivaldi project, a decade in and at its halfway point.

james.inverne@haymarket.com gramophone.co.uk

GRAMOPHONE NOVEMBER 2011 3