Since Sir Compton Mackenzie first conceived the idea of this magazine, it has changed its look many times. Yet it has always remained true to the principles he set out in his first editorial (quoted above in each issue): ‘an organ of candid opinion for the numerous possessors of gramophones’.

This latest design, not so very far from the one you’re used to, cleaves even more closely to that vision. Our esteemed panel of reviewers are even more central (indeed, in this issue there are more reviews than before) and they have a new mark of distinction in their armoury. Editor’s Choice, the accolade we bestow on the finest discs every month, is now Gramophone Choice – but any critic who feels strongly that a recording shouldn’t have missed the cut can now award it a Critic’s Choice badge. But they have a limited number to issue each year, so must choose with care – and passion!

The reviews themselves are set out so that they can run to greater length if needed, with the Recording of the Month given a full two pages (something Rob Cowan seizes gratefully for this issue, not least because the disc in question features a favourite composer). And in a new feature, ‘The Specialist’s Guide To…’, reviewers recommend an essential library of recordings for their niche areas of interest – beginning with Richard Fairman on rare French operas. It’s a must-read for those of us who enjoy becoming anoraks in out-of-the-way subjects. You’ll notice throughout a more literary feel to the features, as Gramophone is a home of great writing about music. But we also hope they are more sharply defined – so our interview slot ‘A Conversation With…’, for instance, gives way to ‘The Musician And The Score’, in which a leading player shares his or her understanding of specific works (starting with the Emerson Quartet’s ever-eloquent cellist 
David Finckel discussing Mozart’s Prussian Quartets).

We also celebrate two important milestones in this issue. Jordi Savall, that pioneer of early music, turns 70. His ultra-lavish, painstakingly researched concept albums have, arguably, influenced the entire industry and, in a fascinating interview with Fabrice Fitch, he reveals the process of their creation. And there’s research in Turin as Richard Wigmore visits the home of the immense Naïve Vivaldi project, a decade in and at its halfway point.

James Inverne