Classic FM Magazine to close

[David Ayers]

The Classic FM magazine is owned by Haymarket who also own Gramophone, with the former taking a slightly more populist tack. CFM subscribers are being moved over to Gramophone. Gramophone itself keeps rising in price. They have tried to refresh the review format with occasional longer reviews or with two reviewers comparing notes, but this hasn't really altered a palpable sense of deadness over the whole magazine. A recent feature on "new music" discussed Birtwistle (late 70s), Adams (mid-60s)and Whitacre (early 40s - ahh!!!!!). Those guys soldier on but the reviewers are a dull lot and in truth they aren't much needed - if you want to know what a work sounds like you can just stream it or sample it, so the short review functions as very little more than a blurb.

http://www.rhinegold.co.uk/magazines/classical_music/news/classical_music_news_story.asp?id=1276

[A Lark Ascending]

Gramophone has fallen victim to that syndrome that seems to affect so many music magazines - '50 famous-itis.'

The new issue is dominated by a feature on 50 people who changed classical music and then pages and pages of the world's festivals. Then you're already in the review section.

It seems to me that so much of this is about just filling the pages as easily as possible. You can take care of a couple of issues each year with 'Awards' and 'End of Year Round-up' but too often you get this sort of thing mid-year. Not quite as bad as the article on the pets of 'great composers' in the BBC Music magazine a while back.

I don't pine for the magazine's more patrician days (I seem to recall it being produced on tablets of stone in the 70s) and like the less judgemental tone; but I do wish they'd lay off the lists.

Edited April 10, 2012 by A Lark Ascending

[Stefan Wood]

Like Rolling Stone, etc., it is all about selling issues and maintaining subscriptions. They should just go completely on line; forget the paper copy

[David Ayers]

Like Rolling Stone, etc., it is all about selling issues and maintaining subscriptions. They should just go completely on line; forget the paper copy

Turns out CFM magazine was not *allowed* to develop much of an online presence, and the staff believe this contributed to their downfall.

[Hoppy T. Frog]

BBC Music (the magazine) is better anyway.