# Do you subscribe to any Classical music magazines?



## quietfire (Mar 13, 2017)

I was in a huge book store the other day, and was shocked to not be able to find a music magazine for Classical music. They even have a full shelf of music magazines, but not one for Classical music 

They had magazines for drummers, rock, technomusic, music entrepreneurs... Ugh.

Anyways, do you subscribe to or read casually any magazines that are dedicated to Classical music?

If so, which ones?


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

I subscribe to the Journal of the American Musicological Society, because I am interested in music history and theory. It's a difficult read - quite academic and dense - but well worth the effort.

Also, as a member of the Music Teachers Association of California, I receive the magazine The California Music Teacher. It contains many excellent articles on piano pedagogy and technique.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

No, I buy them at my local shop.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

I subscribe to Gramophone, American Record Guide and Fanfare Magazine.


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## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

BBC Music Magazine.


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## lluissineu (Dec 27, 2016)

Yes, in my case to a Spanish magazine called Scherzo. Sometimes I've read The Grammophone.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I subscribe to Fanfare.

It contains a lot of interviews with musicians and a comprehensive CD, DVD and download classical music review section.


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## premont (May 7, 2015)

Once I did, but stopped some years ago, because I didn't think they were worth the cost. 

I am the kind of person who acquires many recordings whatever the reviewers write,

But if I want to see reviews, there are many reviews online to read. Hints from experienced posters in music forums like TC may also be very helpful.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I will start charging for my reviews. Might as well get a piece of the pie!

Movin' on up..... :clap:


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Animal the Drummer said:


> BBC Music Magazine.


I wish I could buy that one, very good, alas not in my town shops.


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## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

I know they sell copies abroad because a friend in America takes the magazine. Why not e-mail [email protected] and see what they say?


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

I do not subscribe to any magazines. I do buy from time to time BBC Music Magazine and Gramophone. I like the short articles in the BBC magazine and I like the reviews in Gramophone. My local bookshop doesn't always sell these, it's hit or miss out here on the fringes of the colonies. 

I also buy from time to time Strad and Strings for string players, such as myself. Strad is from the UK. I really like it, with a few long articles and each month the regular features include a masterclass, written by a famous soloist. They just had a two part series on the Tchaikovsky violin concerto. Last year they published an article on the Bruch Gm, which I'm attempting to learn. Even if you're not a string player you might find it interesting. Also there is always an article by a lutherie and a small review of CDs and concerts. 

Strings magazine is published in the USA, it's a smaller publication, I find it less interesting but once in a while there is some good stuff. Both magazines focus on string players in orchestra, soloists or quartets etc. 

Most, or now maybe all, magazines publish their magazines online and you can download to your mobile device. In fact, in the online Strad magazine section for the masterclass they have short audio sections outlining the tricky section, simply not possible in a print edition. The online BBC Music magazine also allows for you to download their monthly cd.


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

For a very long time, I subscribed to Fanfare, but I gave it up some time ago. It just seemed that fewer and fewer of the reviews were about releases that were of any interest to me. I seem to remember also being a subscriber to a more music oriented magazine (less about CD releases), which went out of business.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

FANFARE.... I like to know what's been released, re-issued, erc.


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## gHeadphone (Mar 30, 2015)

I buy both Gramaphone and BBC music magazine (rather than subscribe i support my local newsagent). I must check fanfare out, but I'm in Ireland so online is likely the best option!


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

BBC Music Magazine


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## Omicron9 (Oct 13, 2016)

Gramophone! 

Have subscribed for at least 10 years now. In my opinion, it's the standard for classical music magazines. Also a great way to keep up with new releases and reissues, which I like but my wallet detests. The only drawback is that it's a very Brit-centric magazine. Many of the recommended recordings are of British composers, performed by British groups, recorded on British labels. If the recording is of a non-British composer, then the recommended recordings are often again by British performers, recorded on British labels. Not always of course, but far too frequently to be a coincidence. Pastoralist British composers like Vaughn-Williams, Britten, Elgar, et. al. from late 19th- and early 20th-centuries is when music attained perfection, according to Gramophone.

But once you learn to look past this bias, it's really a very good magazine.

-09


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

I had a two year subscription to Listen: Life With Music & Culture
It's published by Steinway and is only issued Quarterly but it usually had some good interviews. I meant to renew it several years ago but never did...


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

I subscribe to Fanfare. I will purchase American Record Guide, Gramophone, and BBC Music depending upon their availability and my interest level, when I encounter them .


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

The only one I'm currently subscribed to is Opera News , which is a must read for all opera fans .
There are so many I'd love to subscribe to, but this would cost a fortune , so I read them in libraries or online etc .


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

superhorn said:


> The only one I'm currently subscribed to is Opera News , which is a must read for all opera fans .
> There are so many I'd love to subscribe to, but this would cost a fortune , so I read them in libraries or online etc .


Now that ons is available in a small cigarette store in my neighbourhood and the owner calls me when a new one has arrived.
That's what I called service.


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## quietfire (Mar 13, 2017)

Pugg said:


> Now that ons is available in a small cigarette store in my neighbourhood and the owner calls me when a new one has arrived.
> That's what I called service.


I call that economics,


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

quietfire said:


> I call that economics,


With only 10% profit, I call it service .


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

I read Gramophone and the BBC Music Magazine, and write for Limelight (the Australian classical music magazine).


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## Jan9Pot7ck1 (May 17, 2018)

I used to read the American Record Guide, Gramophone and Fanfare when I visited the bookstores. But about the time Tower of Books when out of business these magazines became hard to find. I wanted to subscribe but could not afford to.


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## Anankasmo (Jun 23, 2017)

Omicron9 said:


> Gramophone!
> 
> Have subscribed for at least 10 years now. In my opinion, it's the standard for classical music magazines. Also a great way to keep up with new releases and reissues, which I like but my wallet detests. The only drawback is that it's a very Brit-centric magazine. Many of the recommended recordings are of British composers, performed by British groups, recorded on British labels. If the recording is of a non-British composer, then the recommended recordings are often again by British performers, recorded on British labels. Not always of course, but far too frequently to be a coincidence. Pastoralist British composers like Vaughn-Williams, Britten, Elgar, et. al. from late 19th- and early 20th-centuries is when music attained perfection, according to Gramophone.
> 
> ...


Extremly true. Same with BBC which i have subscribed to. But i cant stand how Brits centric it is. One just has to see the Top 20 or so composers list of them. They seriously include Vaughan Williams, Holst, Britten, Tipett, Byrd and other English composers there...... No offense but except maybe RVW and Elgar no English composer should make that list haha 
https://rateyourmusic.com/list/Iai/bbc_music_magazines_50_greatest_composers__and_their_5_greatest_works_/


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

BBC Music. Sometimes the CD's will introduce me to music I am unfamiliar with.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Pugg said:


> With only 10% profit, I call it service .


Or the owner might be interested in you.


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## Judith (Nov 11, 2015)

Recently started subscribing to BBC Music Magazine. Has interesting articles, useful reviews, free cd and have to say, they published my letter a while ago!


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

American Record Guide and Fanfare, both published six times a year, both full of reviews.

Of these I find ARG the most often readable even though its editor, while an interesting fellow, believes the world ended about 1950. Many of its other reviewers are among the best I've ever read. It also is compact and doesn't waste my time with needless blather from writers or, God forbid, what the slick magazines are full of.

Fanfare is good and has a great website with reviews going back to 1989 for subscribers ($60 annually for either a web or web plus hardcopy subscription.) Its hardcopy magazine is hard to read for two reasons: a one column format that tires the eye with gray and LONG reviews. Apparently the "editor" doesn't believe in doing that.

I formerly subscribed to BBC Music Magazine, Gramophone, Stereo Review (back in the day), Listen: Life With Music & Culture (started out calling itself Life With Music but learned it couldn't make a living on classical music,) Classic Record Collector (changed its name and went out of business a couple years ago) and others. Of these, Classic Record Collector was easily the best.

I dropped the two British slicks still being made because they had more pages of advertising and musician interviews than reviews. Musician interviews remind me of athlete interviews in sports magazines: vapid.


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## stejo (Dec 8, 2016)

I subscribe to Gramophone, both the magazine and the reviews online which is a goldmine if you are looking for elder
records...


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

*BBC Music* - but it seems often to be for beginners. I hate all the wasted space with big color photos. It has plenty of listings of the vast musical offerings in the UK, and not just London. Makes me sorry I didn't move there 40 years ago.
*Gramophone* - expensive, lots of reviews, good at keeping me up of technology trends
*American Record Guide* - well written, I like the curmudgeon editor, but I still miss James Lyon

*Fanfare* - didn't catch on with me. Don't know why. Let it go.

Mags I miss:
*Ovation *- an upstart from 30 years ago, didn't last long, but was very good
*Musical America* - I know that ARG took it in, sort of. I still have a couple of these from the 1950's. They were incredible. Large format, like Life magazine - hundreds of pages. Really well done articles, interviews. But it's the advertising that's just amazing. That must have been the heyday of classical music. We'll never see magazines like that again.
*Hi-Fi *- used to have really good classical coverage. Classic article by Leonard Bernstein on Mahler, a keeper.
*Stereo Review* - used to be a great resource, then slowly they, too, were taken over by pop/rock people and that was that. I kept several of them, one had the best, and only, article like it on Gottschalk - he was even on the cover!

I use several online sites, like Classics Today and MusicWeb International. Just not the same.


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