# Biggest howlers in the Penguin guide 2010?



## Mal (Jan 1, 2016)

k**** Rattle/CBSO Mahler Symphony #3

Zero stars and no key from me. Please don't put me in that prison cell with Rattle, he'd bore me to death with his all his pedantry, and complaints about lack of hair products. (Then again, his #7 wasn't bad...)


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## Bruckner Anton (Mar 10, 2016)

Don't take penguin guide seriously. I am serious.


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## LOLWUT (Oct 12, 2016)

I agree Rattle isn't the best Mahler conductor. He's not bad though, many of his interpretations are based on Bernstein's. 

The greatest living Mahler conductor is Myung-whun Chung.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Bruckner Anton said:


> Don't take penguin guide seriously. I am serious.


Best answer, trust your own judgement.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Bruckner Anton said:


> Don't take penguin guide seriously. I am serious.


The Penguin Guide is a guide not a prescription. Like all criticism it is largely subjective. In actual fact it is pretty good as a rough idea.


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## Varick (Apr 30, 2014)

Let's not forget the second word in the title: "Guide" You can use it as such, but as Pugg said, trust your own judgement.

V


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## Mal (Jan 1, 2016)

We all know it's often quite useful now and again. This thread is just an invitation for you to mention some recommendations, or non-recommendations, that had you shaking your head.

Another howler was not even mentioning the best Chopin Piano Concerto #1 out there (Zinman/Giulini) You might say,"well that's your opinion, not theirs". But in PG 1999 it topped the list, given as much effusive praise as me! I think they had a policy of not recommending CDs that weren't being printed that year. Which is just silly. So it's a howler.


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## Totenfeier (Mar 11, 2016)

LOLWUT said:


> I agree Rattle isn't the best Mahler conductor. He's not bad though, many of his interpretations are based on Bernstein's.
> 
> The greatest living Mahler conductor is Myung-whun Chung.


Better than Dima Slobodeniouk? _That_ I _gotta_ hear!


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## ldiat (Jan 27, 2016)

do you mean these penguins.....sorry i had to...mike lang made me do it


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I rarely agree with critics reviewing classical CD performances.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Mal said:


> Another howler was not even mentioning the best Chopin Piano Concerto #1 out there (*Zinman*/Giulini)


Talking about howlers


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Personally, I find Rattle's early recording of Mahler's 2nd to be damn fine:


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I used to own and consult a Penguin Guide. Ultimately I found its reviews to be not howlers but yawners and shruggers. I think Penguin is something to outgrow.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> Personally, I find Rattle's early recording of Mahler's 2nd to be damn fine:


I though O.P was talking Mahler Symphony No. 3 with Birgit Remmert.
In that case O.P has a valid point.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Surely the biggest howler was Hugo Wolf?


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## Mal (Jan 1, 2016)

Wolfie Mozart? Giving Ward only **(*) for his warm & charming Symphonies 15-18? Don't they like Northerners? "Don't drink at the Groucho club... not clubbable, old chap..."


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## Mal (Jan 1, 2016)

Becca said:


> Talking about howlers


Oops! Sorry Herr Zimerman... Freudian slip there... the biggest howler is a key for Zinman's set of Beethoven symphonies...


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

The best guides to music I find are my ears and my own idiosyncratic taste. They rarely let me down.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Guides to music/recordings and critical reviews have their merits. I found them to be a good starting point when I knew next to nothing about various composers and the recordings available. With time I have learned to recognize which performers/conductors etc... I find come closest to my ideals... and I have come to recognize which of the same will likely offer a very different interpretation when I am seeking out a second... or third... (etc...) recording of a favorite work.


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