Assuming I decide pretty soon, I can get a free 3 month subscription to one of the following:

Classic FM Magazine (I cringe to think it might be as bad as Classic FM TV)
BBC Music (A Bestseller, but does that mean it's good)
Gramophone (everyone's favourite, but not necessarily the best).

What shall I get?

Put all three on a separate piece of paper, attach to a dart board, don a blindfold and throw a single dart.

Sorry ... but no one else has replied yet ....

Lucky you.

I'm assuming since you asked you don't have time to go and buy (or flick through!) a copy of each to form a view ???

I haven't read the Classic FM mag.
BBC publications sometimes include a lot of promotional material, which they have found a neat knack of charging people for ........ I'd want to see a good proportion of valuable articles too.

I'd probably go for the Gramophone ...... but since it's a free sub maybe you 'd take a chance on one of the others !

Maggie

I agree with maggiemay. Definately Gramophone! Classic fm isn't that brilliant, I did read it for a year and gave up because the articles didn't contain anything I was interested in, and a lot was promotional stuff.

Atari

I would go for either the Gramophone or the BBC. The gramophone is obviously very good for CD reviews but I quite like the BBC magazine for some of its articles and links to programs on Radio 3. I would not bother with Classic FM at all, unless you like reading articles about the Opera Babes etc.....

QUOTE (Lucia @ Jun 19 2004, 04:56 PM)

unless you like reading articles about the Opera Babes etc.....

They're worth looking at, not listening to, or reading about

BBC is better because the CDs that come with it are complete works rather than the snippets you get with Gramophone. However, I've from others that the Gramophone magazine is better/more interesting. I definitely wouldnt go for CFM - I suppose you could call it the 'classical music' equivalent of Smash Hits.....

I have more free CDs than I know what to do with - I want something to read, not to listen to!!!!

I think the BBC Music mag is a more interesting and erudite than Classic Fm but I havn't seen the other one.

I quite like the classic FM mag as you always get a CD with it! Lucia is right though they do right a lot about modern groups like the opera babes and the "opera band" demitri forever or whatever they're called, not offense to them but I think they destroy everything they sing

OK I didnt realise the others had CDs too...

Classic FM cos. even if the TV is cringe making the radio station as a whole isn't and I'm loyal to them so I feel I should back them up!