Downloads, CDs and DVD mean it is possible to listen to hundreds of thousands of classical recordings today - but how do you pick your way through the staggering array of music now on offer? The Penguin Guide to the 1000 Finest Classical Recordings brings together an amazing variety of expertise to create a genuinely new and extremely useful guide to the most essential classical recordings. The generous selection contains every kind of music, from the medieval to the modern period, and readers will discover whole new areas they had not previously considered. The Guide is far more than a listing - it also includes an essay on downloads, a history of recording, and short guides to composers, ballet and opera. But what makes it truly exceptional is the many years of warmth and enthusiasm its writers bring to their great subject.