The Rough Guide to Classical Music is a unique handbook, spanning eight centuries of music from medieval Masses to works by contemporaries such as Judith Weir and Michael Torke. Both a buyer's guide and a who's who, it features concise biographical sketches of some 160 composers, explaining their social and musical contexts; more than 150 illustrations, including some rarely seen archive photos; revealing summaries of the major compositions in all genres, from solo flute pieces to operas with casts of hundreds; and incisive reviews of hundreds of CDs, selecting both the best of the latest recordings and the pick of the classic reissues.