DECEMBERI977 Volume55 No. 655

Publisher & Managing Editor

ANTHONY POLLARD

Editor

MALCOLM WALKER

Deputy Ed i tor ROGER HUGHES

. Audio Editor· JOHN BORWICK Audio Consultant

JOHN GILBERT

Advertisement Co-ordinator

DERMOT JONES Accounts Manager CHRISTINE FLEGG Circulation Manager

H~LEN GRIMES Subscription Manager

LILIAN SHERER Deputy Publisher & Advertisement Director

BARRY IRVING

CONTRIBUTORS

NICHOLAS ANDERSON

FELIX APRAHAMIAN

DENIS ARNOLD

MARY BERRY ALAN BLYTH WILLIAM A CHISLETI

JOAN CHISSELL

PETER FIELD ROGER FISKE CHARLES FOX ROBIN GOLDING EDWARD GREENFIELD

MAX HARRISON TREVOR HARVEY

NIGEL HUNTER ANDREW LAMB ROBERT LAYTON MALCOLM MACDONALD

WILLIAM MANN

IVAN MARCH ALUN MORGAN MICHAEL OLIVER RICHARD OSBORNE STEPHEN PLAISTOW

BRIAN RUST STANLEY SADIE LIONEL SALTER

ERIC SAMS JOHN STEANE JOHN WARRACK . STANLEY WEBB ARNOLD WHITIALL

Incorporating CASSETTES & CARTRIDGES

CONTENTS990IndextoReviews

991 New Record and Cassettes Releases 1015 The Critics' Choice-1977 1028 Deletions 1028 Book Reviews 1037 The Gramophone Collection-No.3: The Symphonies of Tchaikovsky by Ivan March 1045 Editorial Notes 1045 Correspondence 1046 Here and There with W . A. Chislett. Carolyn Nott and Sue Regan 1059 Obituaries

REVIEWS106710981/061/1811341/4111421/50115611611/62

Orchestral Chamber Music Instrumental Choral and Song Opera Spoken Word New Cassettes Nights at the Round Table Carols Easy Listening jazz

AUDIO1/631/64 1/79 1/ 80 1/ 84

Sounds in Retrospect-A Panel Review Audio Forum Music off the Record by Clement Brown Report from America by Harry E. Maynard Accessories for Christmas Equipment Reviews:

1/ 87 1/92 1/ 92 1/ 97 1/ 98

Eagle R6500 receiver/A6400 amplifier by Geoffrey Horn Luxman PD-131 tu rntable by John Borwick Micro-Acoustics Model 282e cartridge by john Borwick Audio News Audio Circles

FRONT COVER The 1977 Critics· Choice begins on page 1015; in addition recent records of Christmas music are surveyed on page 1156

NEXT MONTH A Quarterly Retrospect by John Steane The Gramophone Collection-the popular operas of Puccini New Record and Cassette Releases Denys Killick reviews the Hitachi 0800 3-head cassette deck The January 1978 issue of GRAMOPHONE will be published on Wednesday January 4th

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