It should be a given, our masthead bearing the name of the first major device for playing records at home, that recording is at the heart of everything we do. Indeed, above this very article we remind you of our founder Sir Compton Mackenzie’s mission to be ‘an organ of candid opinion for the numerous possessors of gramophones’ – and for 102 years now we’ve endeavoured to do exactly that. A big part of this is comparative listening to oft-recorded works. This is not so much to help you select ‘the best’, since while brilliance will shine through, such a dazzling quantity of excellence over more than a century of recording means that such listening is as much about understanding how different approaches illuminate a work. We do this in our reviews, and perhaps most significantly in our Collections, charting the interpretative history of core works through the artistry and vision of their finest (or sometimes not so finest) performances. But the nature of needing a substantial discography to explore means that many works – significant, substantial, beloved but simply less recorded – don’t make the cut for consideration, and so we don’t gain from the analysis of context and interpretative insight that our critics can bring. So we’ve launched a new monthly feature called Explorations to address that.

Our inaugural article is a perfect example: Ligeti’s Lontano, a haunting orchestral masterpiece, and yet one that can be heard only on a handful of recordings. This is a fate that befalls many modern orchestral works (perhaps understandably, having had less time to work their way into the repertoires of orchestras and the affections of audiences), as it does Early music, despite the work of so many superb ensembles who have elevated its sound world and championed major pieces. But there are great works from all periods crying out for wider recognition, even if they haven’t been recorded often: the Classical and Romantic eras will not be ignored, as you’ll see in forthcoming issues. We hope you will enjoy this new monthly addition to the magazine – and do let us know of works you’d like us to consider for inclusion.

Recordings are very much at the heart of our podcasts too – the bulk being conversations with artists about their newly released albums, while special editions see us sit down with our writers to explore conductors or composers via recordings of their music. We hugely enjoy making them, and are delighted to know you’ve enjoyed listening to them in such numbers that we’ve just passed the 1 million download mark! So huge thanks for your support, and as we say at the end of every episode ‘do look out for another Gramophone Podcast very soon’ – a new one is published every week.

Finally, some sadder news, as we report the death this month of Stephen Plaistow, a writer of great elegance who brought his knowledge, curiosity, generosity of spirit and commitment to contemporary composers to our pages for more than half a century. Recording was at the heart of most of what he wrote, as well as broadcast, too – in fact few figures have better embodied Mackenzie’s original aim. Our long-standing readers will have learnt so much from him, and that is the greatest tribute that can be afforded to any writer.