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Posted by Raymond Waud Hello.
on January 5, 2007, 8:01 am, in reply to "Re: The Decline of Gramophone"
Message modified by board administrator January 5, 2007, 8:07 am
I do so agree with the comments already posted and you may like to see a copy of the letter I sent to the editor of the Gramophone. Needless to say, I did not receive a reply!
The following entry was sent to the Forum under the "General" heading some little time ago. Unfortunately, the Forum Editor chose not to publish it, which is unfortunate as I was anxious to see the reaction. I do believe that it is important that you see this as, no doubt, you are substantially responsible for the dreadful state of the revised magazine.
The entry was to have been under "The New Gramophone-update" and was as follows:-
"I live in Spain and often receive my copy of the Gramophone three or four weeks later than the published date, so I have only just received the August issue. The July copy should have warned me but the ghastly truth still came as a shock. I have been reading the Gramophone since 1957 and have never missed an issue. Whilst the magazine was under the control of the previous owners updates were done with discretion. When Haymarket took over I feared the worst and my fears were justified. The standard of reviews dropped and the magazine tried to become more popularist.
With much grumbling I put up with this until the latest lurch to the "Gosh! Look at this. Isn't it great?" style of journalism, the stupid design which makes the magazine difficult to read, and the articles which tell you virtually nothing about music. The cover disc certainly had its use as the reasonably substantial excerpts gave one a good idea of the performance and, more often than not, showed me which new issues not to buy. Now we have a cover disc designed for people who cannot read largely consisting of conversations between two people. What a waste!
Over the years I have been connected with a number of recorded music clubs and no person that I have spoken to from there has a good word to say about the Gramophone changes. In the circumstances, after almost fifty years, I have reluctantly and with great sorrow cancelled my subscription. Thank goodness for musicweb.uk.net!" [now musicweb-international.com - len]
Finally I might add that I have shown the magazine to a number of people who are not necessarily interested in recorded music and they have all said the same thing "Doesn't the design make the magazine difficult to read?". I hope my comments will be seen as helpful, but I doubt it in the present climate. Best wishes,
Raymond Waud.
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