Uncut

About Uncut

Gramophone is a monthly classical music magazine published in London by the Mark Allen Group. Founded in 1923 by the Scottish author Compton Mackenzie — who edited it until 1961 — it is one of the oldest continuously published music magazines in the world and is devoted above all to reviews of classical recordings. Known as The Gramophone prior to 1970, it presents the annual Gramophone Classical Music Awards to the recordings it judges the finest in a variety of categories, and its website describes it as "the world's authority on classical music since 1923", with recent issues carrying the cover line "the world's best classical music reviews". The magazine was acquired by Haymarket in 1999 and by the Mark Allen Group in 2013; it is edited by Martin Cullingford, with former editor James Jolly as editor-in-chief. Its official website is gramophone.co.uk and its ISSN is 0017-310X.

Founding by Compton Mackenzie

Gramophone was founded in 1923 by Compton Mackenzie, the Scottish novelist already famous for works such as Sinister Street and later Whisky Galore. Mackenzie was a passionate amateur musician and record collector who believed that the growing record-buying public needed honest, expert guidance: recordings were expensive, the industry was coming of age, and a magazine devoted to candid opinion about records was, in the magazine's own centenary account, timely indeed necessary. Mackenzie launched The Gramophone from his home, ordering crates of crackly 78s to be shipped to his Channel Island base for review, and he continued to edit the magazine until 1961 — a tenure of nearly four decades that stamped his personality on the title. Shortly after launching the magazine, Mackenzie also founded the National Gramophonic Society in 1923, established to produce by subscription recordings of music ignored by commercial record companies; its activities were announced and its releases promoted in the magazine's pages. The society's advisory committee included Gramophone contributors and editors, binding the magazine to the practical business of making records from the very start. Mackenzie's founding vision — independent criticism serving the listener rather than the industry — has remained the magazine's guiding principle for more than a century.

A century of publication

Gramophone celebrated its centenary in 2023, marking one hundred years of continuous publication — a milestone few magazines of any kind achieve. Its history mirrors that of classical music on record itself: from the 78rpm discs of Mackenzie's day through LPs, cassettes, CDs, downloads and streaming, the magazine has reviewed each new format as it arrived. The title was known as The Gramophone until 1970, when the definite article was dropped. For much of its life the magazine was owned by the Pollard family, a small business that nurtured it for decades; it was acquired by Haymarket Media Group in 1999, which invested heavily in its web offerings, building a well-staffed website with bespoke audio and video players, a digital edition with integrated audio and visual links, popular e-newsletters and a Sunday Times Top 500 app. In 2013 the Mark Allen Group acquired Gramophone from Haymarket, where its sister titles had included What Car?, Stuff and What Hi-Fi?. The classical music world greeted the sale with relief: as one commentator wrote at the time, the classical music world, particularly its recordings industry, needs Gramophone to prosper, since it is one of a small clutch of dedicated outlets with measurable impact on CD and download sales, on labels' fortunes and on artists' careers. Under Mark Allen ownership, Gramophone was described as the crown jewel of the group's music portfolio.

The Gramophone Classical Music Awards

Each year Gramophone presents the Gramophone Classical Music Awards — often simply called the Gramophone Awards — to the classical recordings it considers the finest across a range of categories. The awards are among the most prestigious in classical music, and winning one can transform an artist's career and a label's fortunes. Previous winners have included Herbert von Karajan, Nigel Kennedy, Sir Simon Rattle, Riccardo Chailly, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Nelson Freire and Julian Bream, who received a Lifetime Achievement award. The awards ceremony is an internationally renowned event achieving substantial media coverage, and the annual awards issue of the magazine is one of its most eagerly awaited editions. The awards reflect the magazine's core mission: to identify and celebrate excellence in recorded classical music, guiding listeners through an ever-expanding catalogue of releases. In an age of streaming abundance, when pretty much everything ever recorded is instantly available, the curatorial authority of the Gramophone Awards has arguably become more valuable than ever.

Editor's Choice, Critics' Choice and the Hall of Fame

Beyond the annual awards, Gramophone runs several regular recommendation franchises. Each month a dozen recordings are singled out as Gramophone Choice (formerly Gramophone Editor's Choice), highlighting the recordings the magazine's critics rate most highly. In the annual Christmas edition, each critic selects four or five recordings from the year's output, and these selections make up Gramophone Critics' Choice — a comprehensive survey of the year's finest discs. In April 2012 the magazine launched the Gramophone Hall of Fame, an annual listing of the men and women — artists, producers, engineers, A&R directors and label founders — who have contributed most to the classical records industry. The first fifty inductees were revealed in the May 2012 issue and on the magazine's website, with a new intake each year. Together, these features give readers multiple layers of guidance: the monthly choices for the keen collector, the annual Critics' Choice for the year in review, and the Hall of Fame for the industry's all-time greats.

Editorial leadership

Gramophone is edited by Martin Cullingford, who heads a highly accomplished editorial team. The editor-in-chief and former editor is James Jolly, whose relationship with the title spans more than a third of its existence; Jolly also presents "Sunday Morning" on BBC Radio 3, underlining the magazine's close ties to Britain's classical broadcasting establishment. The magazine employs a galaxy of celebrated reviewers, each a specialist in particular repertoire, from early music to contemporary composition. This depth of critical expertise is central to the magazine's authority: readers trust Gramophone's reviews because they are written by people who know the repertoire intimately and who are prepared to be candid. The editorial offices are in London, and the magazine's team also produces the website, podcasts, newsletters and digital editions that extend the brand beyond print.

Reviews and editorial content

Reviews of recordings are the heart of Gramophone. Each issue contains dozens of reviews spanning orchestral, chamber, instrumental, vocal, opera and early music, written with a rigour and independence that the industry respects and sometimes fears. The magazine's critics assess performances, recorded sound and presentation, and their verdicts carry real commercial weight with collectors and casual buyers alike. Alongside reviews, Gramophone publishes features and interviews with leading artists, composers and conductors, reports on the classical music industry, and coverage of festivals and competitions. The magazine has also chronicled the technological history of recorded sound, from Mackenzie's 78s to the streaming era — a subject on which it is uniquely qualified to speak, having reviewed records in every format for a century. Its centenary edition in 2023 included a substantial history of the magazine and the recording industry by James Jolly, reflecting on how far the art and technology of recording have travelled since 1923.

Digital presence and archive

Gramophone maintains an extensive digital presence centred on gramophone.co.uk, which offers news, reviews, podcasts, awards coverage and a reviews database. The Haymarket years saw rapid development of the magazine's web offerings, including a Sunday Times Top 500 app, a digital edition with integrated audio and visual links, and popular e-newsletters; under Mark Allen ownership these digital assets have continued to develop. The magazine offers a Digital Club subscription providing the digital edition, a digital archive, the reviews database and full website access, alongside free registration giving access to a limited number of subscriber-only articles per month, unlimited news, podcasts and awards pages, and a free weekly email newsletter. The digital archive is a treasure trove for researchers and collectors, containing a century of reviews — effectively a history of classical recording as told month by month. For libraries, universities and other institutions, institutional subscriptions provide access to this unique resource.

Circulation and readership

Gramophone's circulation, including digital subscribers, was reported at 24,380 in 2014 — a strong figure for a specialist classical title and one that reflects the loyalty of its readership. Its readers are typically knowledgeable collectors and enthusiastic listeners who buy recordings, attend concerts and follow artists' careers closely; they are exactly the audience that record labels, concert promoters, festivals and high-end audio manufacturers wish to reach. The magazine's global reputation means its readership extends far beyond the United Kingdom, with subscribers in Europe, North America, Asia and beyond. The authority of its reviews gives it an influence disproportionate to its circulation: a Gramophone recommendation can drive sales worldwide, and labels routinely quote its verdicts in their marketing. This combination of a dedicated core readership and outsized industry influence has sustained the magazine through a century of change in both publishing and the record business.

Legacy and influence

Few magazines can claim to have shaped their field as profoundly as Gramophone has shaped classical recording. For a century it has set the standard for critical writing about records, championed neglected repertoire through ventures like the National Gramophonic Society, and celebrated excellence through its awards. Its centenary in 2023 was marked not only by a special anniversary edition but by a recognition across the classical world of what the magazine represents: independent, expert criticism in the service of listeners. The magazine's own centenary statement captured its philosophy: the need for a reviews magazine emerged in Mackenzie's mind because the industry was coming of age, the growth of recordings and the considerable expense of acquiring them made honest opinion necessary — and that has been the guiding principle ever since. From crates of 78s shipped to a Channel Island to streaming services offering everything ever recorded in studio-quality sound, Gramophone has documented an extraordinary story of artistic and technological evolution. As the world's authority on classical music since 1923, it remains the indispensable guide to classical music on record.