The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music

The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music (formerly The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs and, from 2003 to 2006, The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs and DVDs) was a widely distributed annual publication from Britain published by Penguin Books that reviewed and rated currently available recordings of classical music. It was written by Ivan March, a music journalist, consultant and former professional musician; Edward Greenfield, former music critic of The Guardian newspaper and Robert Layton, music writer and lecturer. All three were also reviewers for the UK classical music periodical Gramophone. From 2008-2010, a fourth contributor was listed also as a co-author, Paul Czajkowski, who had been listed an editor from the 2002 book.

The Guide was often found in the classical departments of record stores. In earlier editions, the Guide awarded each recording a rating of between one and three stars, with extraordinarily favoured recordings receiving a rosette. From 2007-2010, the publication used four stars to denote records which are "exceptional issue[s] on every count". DVDs of operas and classical music concerts and Super Audio Compact Discs were also reviewed.

As provided by The Penguin Guide To Recorded Classical Music:

NOTE: A star in brackets means there is some qualification to the performance or recording. A bracket around all three stars usually denotes an outstanding performance in dated monaural sound.

The guidebook first appeared in 1960 as The Stereo Record Guide, in response to the increasing number of stereo LP recordings available. Up to 1968 the writing team comprised Ivan March, Edward Greenfield and Denis Stevens. Penguin Books, having published guides to bargain records (1966, 1970 and 1972), began publishing the guides in 1975. In those days, as the reviewers concede it was possible to include almost all stereo recordings, so limited was the repertoire.

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