Rating: 
Summary: Slipping fast
Review: In the past this guide has been criticized for its' peculiar British bias. I have little quarrel with that, however, I do question a guide that has no listings whatsoever for Slvius weiss, Pachebel, The Great Regondi (ya, I know he is really obscure...but very worthwile!) or several other well known composers. I think these ommissions are unforgiveable. They used to be in earlier editions, so I think they are losing ground and this edition is less usefull than earlier editions. It is still, alas, indespensable.
Rating: 
Summary: Spare your time and money !
Review: It is a great book, nice to use just as a reference or to read in detail. It will save You a lot of trips to CD shops and wondering about... Just choose the classic work You want to buy and go out with a list of the best (or the cheapest) available.
Rating: 
Summary: Necessarily Limited
Review: My most frequent purchases are opera recordings. There are so many recordings for each opera. Each recording is such a large investment that one really wants the best one possible. There are just too many recordings omitted to make this guide practical.
Rating: 
Summary: Still the best
Review: My sentiments very much tend to echo those of the previous reviewer.This book remains indispensable for any serious collector of classical music. I have made numerous purchases based on the recommendations in this book and have been rarely disappointed (in particular with the sterile Naxos recording of Bruckner's motets - rather buy the Jochum on DG). My reservations are twofold: 1) Too little report on action at the independent classical labels, eg: Martin Jones' excellent second cycle of Spanish Piano Music for Nimbus remains unreviewed. Various excellent Russian recordings devoted to Grechaninov's choral works exist (Chandos, Olympia) but the only one reviewed is (needless to say) a British one. 2) Glaring ommissions. Composerwise I'll stick with Pavel Chesnokov - probably the most important Russian composer composing almost exclusively choral works. Excellent recordings were released by Olympia, but no mention. As regards compositions, I was disappointed by the paucity of reviews of Sarasate works for violin and piano (other than the Zigeunerweisen and the Carmen fantasy, which are almost mainstream) - Rachel Barton and Itzhak Perlman come to mind. Still, an excellent guide.
Rating:
Summary: Accurate, Reliable and Readable
Review: Of all the guides to any subject, this may be the most bankable I have come across. The "Rosettes" really are special recordings, and the narrative descriptions are uncannily dead- on. However, it is a big book, and one can waste a lot of time hunting down a particular recording if turns out not to be classified where you guessed it should/would be. (Sometimes, I know a recording is there because I came across it once, but still I can't find it again.) If ever there were a candidate for a searchable CD-ROM rom text, this is it. Still, if you buy a lot of CDs, this is indispensable.
Rating:
Summary: incomplete and hard to read
Review: Over the past year I have become a classical music fan. By classical I include the late 20th century, but I seem to be one of an exotic minority on that account. I was looking forward to this updated guide, but having perused it, I am quite disappointed. Like the NPR Guide (see my review), the Penguin guide contains little or nothing on the most important composers since WW2. It is nowhere near as useful as the major websites, which is a shame. In terms of format, I found it nearly impossible to read. The entries identifying the recordings look like hieroglyphics, the descriptions of many recordings are too brief to be of much use, and even for "accepted masters" I did not find several readily available recordings, which makes me wonder what else is missing. This monster clearly needs to be broken down into more manageable pieces, with each piece expanded and made more useful and user-friendly. How about 3 volumes: 1) Pre-Classical, 2) Classical & Romantic, and 3) 20th Century?
Rating:
Summary: Creme de la creme
Review: Similar to the potential pitfalls in picking out just the right bottle of wine, finding the "best" recording and performance of a certain opera, symphony, violin concerto, etc., can be a proverbial mine field. However, the expertise rendered in this jewel of a guide makes the shopping experience a happy walk in the park. Don't shop with out it! Trite analogies aside, to address the previous reviewer's frustration (oh, how I sympathize!) in finding a well stocked local classical CD shop-- ...
Rating:
Summary: Superlative
Review: Still the greatest guide to Classical music on CD, of use to beginners as well as those deeply acquainted with the standard works and interested in less well known composers. Of course I would take issue with individual reviews here and there, and feel that certain composers are given short shrift or are damned with faint praise, but, by and large, one can make greater use of the Guide -- or rather Guides, as each is different and includes different items -- than of any other book created for the purpose. To get the best use of it, read reviews of recordings you have and find where your taste differs from the authors'. I find they are more enamoured of 20th Century and late Romantic works than I am, and I am more fond of early and proto-Classic composers (J.C. Bach, Vranicky, Vorisek, Mehul, Jadin, Boccherini, Stamitz, Dittersdorf, Vanhal) than they appear to be. For example: they give the three Duo recordings of J.C. Bach's Opp 1, 7, and 13 Concerti and the Opp 6, 9, and 18 Sinfonias three stars but qualify it with phrases like "not great music but..." For me, discovering J.C. Bach's music was revelatory: I had suspected, before, that Mozart's style, his "sound", was sui generis, having leapt into the world fully formed like Athena from Zeus' head; but anyone who loves Mozart more than peripherally will find J.C. Bach's music delicious, at least; he has been slighted so often I feel it necessary to refute such opinions. Even so perceptive an author as Charles Rosen complained that J.C. Bach's music was "a little empty" and that his avoidance (so called) of emotion was "disturbing". I do not agree, and although his personality doesn't have the dark side that Mozart began to display in mid-life (say around the little G Minor Symphony)it still has melancholy and also great vigor. Indeed, his material is often more pleasing than that of comparable early Mozart, as wonderful as that is. And he died in his early forties. Had he lived he might have developed his more intense, expressive side just as Mozart did. Anyway -- the Penguin Guide is the best. You'll find yourself refering to it often.
Rating:
Summary: Big Gets Bigger
Review: The best classical music guide available especially when combined with its budget companion. There is a "BUT" however, as it is impossible to search for specific artists or composers without going through the titles of the works. A data base on CD ROM would be great and an index would be helpful. The book is also getting a bit thick, making bedtime reading difficult.
Rating:
Summary: Big Gets Bigger
Review: The best classical music guide available especially when combined with its budget companion. There is a "BUT" however, as it is impossible to search for specific artists or conductors without going through the titles of the works. A data base on CD ROM would be great and an index would be helpful. The book is also getting a bit thick, making bedtime reading difficult.
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