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String Quartets On the Web?
rueger writes "Lots of people love iTunes. I'm partial to emusic.com. Ubuntu comes pre-equipped for Jamendo and Magnatune. These are great for those of us hunting popular music — but where do lovers of classical music go to find new artists and albums, download music, and generally keep informed, up to date, and satisfied? As my girlfriend put it, 'I used to go to the big classical record stores downtown, but they're gone.' Where do people go to find the newest Ligeti String Quartet recording?"
iTunes carries a pretty good classical catalog for a casual listener as myself. If you can't find what you want online maybe you could contact the artists/label directly? I can only imagine the website sells the cds if they aren't selling digitally through another outlet.
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Jamendo and Magnatune are great for finding popular music?
Seeing as I'm pressed to find any Top 40 tracks on either website, I would say that they're good for finding obscure music.
(And so we're staying on topic here: I can find tons of classical music on Magnatune. String Quartets aren't out-of-mainstream enough for Magnatune or what?)
Try eMusic. They have tons of classical, and it's probably a bit cheaper than Amazon in some cases. Although there is one annoyance - if a track is longer than a certain length, you might have to download the whole album to get it, which sucks if you already have different versions of the rest.
ie You find an album with a symphony and a overture piece, but you have the symphony already (perhaps a different group, or same group just different album). If the overture is over some length (I don't remember how much, something like 7 mins or so), you'd have to get the symphony anyway, burning 12 credits rather than just one. Before that, you could get some long symphonies (Bruckner...) for just 1 credit per movement.
You can also try ClassicalArchives.com . I used to be a member, but I let it lapse. That was before the new site though, and I've considered going back. (Before, they only had public domain performances, stuff put up by the groups themselves, etc, and a crapload of MIDI)
My classical collection has been built through the following method:
1. Get borrowing privileges at your local university library. (These are generally available to the general public for a small fee.)
2. Check out classical CDs.
3. Burn and/or rip.
If you are a student or faculty, then you also have access to interlibrary loan for the rare stuff.
First off, mp3 is simply not good enough for Classical. If you must buy digital, go for 320 kbps or lame alt-preset-extreme equivalent. As a giant Classical snob (I listen to Classical exclusively), the only way I buy music is physical CDs, and then rip to FLAC once it arrives.
For purchasing physical media, I enthusiastically recommend ArkivMusic. They have a pretty damn good selection, and a really good sorting method where you can browse by composer, conductor, orchestra, soloist, et al., in a very granular fashion. I too checked the local brick-n-mortar stores in Atlanta when the recent re-release of Golijov's Passion of St. Mark hit the shelves only to find no one carrying it. I ended up ordering it from ArkivMusic.
Naxos also has a pretty decent online presence. You can buy from their comprehensive catalog on their site, as well as pay a subscription fee for unlimited mp3/radio quality streaming off their site from their entire collection. While the performers on Naxos aren't always the highest quality, I'd be willing to bet that Naxos has the most comprehensive Classical catalog of any publisher on the planet. Considering the breadth of their collection, if you just want to try new music, the streaming subscription is a pretty damn good deal, poor to middling quality or not.
Interested in unknown, but accomplished classical musicians? Check out wedding musicians. My wife manages a string quartet. They play mostly weddings and events. These women all have post graduate degrees and they are excellent classical musicians. I suggest if you search wedding musicians in your area and check out their websites, you may discover some excellent classical musicians right in your backyard and they may even perform in public as themselves or as part of other groups. Almost all of them will have recordings on their websites or otherwise available.
CBC radio has a bunch of fantastic classical options, especially for those who don't know what they want and its free(unless your Canadian, in which case its tax dollars well spent).
How about YouTube? Seems to me that you're more likely to run into new, cutting edge stuff (or old, obscure stuff) there than on a site that is trying to sell you things. Sure, you might run into say, drunk frat boys humming an ear-bleeding rendition of "Aria on a G String" with kazoos, and the recordings are frequently poor, snippets, or abominations. But it does have the advantage of being a great place to scout stuff out. If you run across something interesting, then you can check it out for real on a more sophisticated site.
OK, fine, I'm sure you know more about geek-related IT stuff than the poster, but how much do you really know about classical music? Not much, judging by your post. If you're looking for a recording of the Pachelbel canon and you find a recording by the Upper Slobovnia Symphony Orchestra and are happy, you are probably not qualified to post a response. While Amazon has a very good selection of CDs for purchase, their mp3 selection is much more limited. iTunes is completely worthless if you know enough to prefer certain recordings over whatever single version they have to offer. archivmusic.com has a limited mp3 selection but it may be preferable to the bigger stores and their comments are always worth reading.
And this whole post reminds me of why I really don't like slashdot these days. It's full of arrogant young dbags like yourself that comment on something they know virtually knowing about yet speak with the authority of Kernighan discussing proper C syntax. I hope you all get through puberty someday and realize your limitations.
... if you're not in the US, and you don't use a Mac or Windows PC. Amazon does not sell MP3s to Australians; iTunes is Mac/Windows only. Personally, I've had most success with emusic.com, but as the querier has noted, their range is limited.
I really miss being able to walk into a store with a large classical range, have a listen, chat with knowledgeable staff, and have the chance of a serendipitous discovery. The web can theoretically provide the equivalent and more besides, but is hobbled by overly restrictive domains and copyright paranoia.
Obviously one of *the* labels for classical music. The awesome thing about their web store is that, in addition to 320kbps MP3s, you can buy FLACs. Very appropriate for fans of classical music which are often crazy about sound quality.
As a non-casual "classical" listener, I can heartily recommend the Naxos Music Library. This is a little different from naxos.com suggested above: naxos.com only has recordings from the Naxos label, while the NML includes many sister labels (including some great ones, like Wergo). They add about 1000 CD's every month, about 40 a day. I've rapidly expanded my knowledge of new composers, and great recordings of old composers. They have multiple recordings of the Ligeti string quartets, including the Arditti Quartet, for example. They're not cheap, though. :(
I don't follow classical regularly, but emusic seemed to be well stocked. Their supply of obscure free jazz impressed.
Amazon's great for CDs, but as a denizen of the world outside of the US, I find they usually don't offer the advertised downloads. You can click through the links, only to be told at the final stages of the transaction that you're out of luck.
.wav files that you can burn to CD or play directly.
But in practice, for classical music I only buy CDs anyway. Assuming they aren't badly recorded, they are pretty much always superior to the more common levels of audio compression. Classical music has a habit of exposing defects in compression much more than most "plugged-in" bands. There are some artists, however, such as Jacob Heringman who do offer their recordings as uncompressed
That doesn't mean I don't use compressed file on my iPod, I just accept that the latter is used in conditions where sound reproduction doesn't matter as much.
Same here, except for KQAC streaming 24-7 from beautiful Portland, Oregon. And these two aren't the only ones. There are a whole bunch of live streams that one can listen to while connected. In many ways, streaming has brought back classical, jazz, and other musical formats that, a few years ago, were in danger of being lost when public radio was transitioning wholesale to news. HD allowed alternate streams to be played over the air and streaming them to the internet connected them to a whole bunch of listeners who (although remote) also turned into financial supporters of these stations and their streams. It's been a really good thing for these stations and this kind of music.
That is all.
I'm kind of partial to Baroque and Renaissance music
kmfa.org is a non-commercial Classical station that favors the early stuff more than any other that I've come across.
They're not NPR, so they play music around the clock, but they do have the regular NPR-style begathons to keep donations coming in.
I introduced myself to Beethoven in high school, and my interests have kept creeping earlier and earlier. I'm a big fan of Renaissance music now. Presumably Medieval is next...
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
We can help, but I suspect your thesis will end up three parts troll and flamebait to one part insightful!
http://www.passionato.com/ It's an online classical music store offering a nice catalog in both mp3 and flac. Lots of 25% off sales. But seriously, what.cd ftw.
As a student studying classical music at a conservatory I can testify to the OP's plight. You may be able to find tons of recordings on iTunes of Beethoven's 5th symphony, but you may not be able to find a recording of the Tomasi Bassoon Concerto. Also, classical musicians and listeners often don't just want any recording of a given work. A lot of the recordings you find on iTunes are done by 2nd-tier European radio symphonies. Often people look for recordings done by specific orchestras or even specific historic recordings. My teacher has collected 33 different recordings of the opening to the Rite of Spring, 17 of them conducted by Stravinsky, 2 of them are rehearsals featuring Stravinsky singing the opening bassoon solo.
If you're lucky enough to be a student at a university with a good music school, you can get access to a huge selection of lesser-marketed recordings. I'm not a copyright lawyer so I can't say if ripping them is exercising fair use under the guise of education or not. If you're in a major city, your public library is also likely to have a large selection.
If that fails and you're looking for recordings that feature some sort of instrumental solo work, a Google search for the piece may turn up a performer who's recorded it but may not be actively marketing their album. Most likely, they'd be happy to get an e-mail from someone interested in listening to their music. Some may even mail it to you for free, just excited to have some publicity. Also, most instruments have their own societies with mailing lists. For example, bassoonists are part of the International Double Reed Society. A question to the society about where to find a recording may yield positive results. Also if you're having trouble finding something, there's a good chance other members of the society are too.
If you're looking for works by an obscure living composer, e-mailing the composer can be an option. Casually asking William Bolcom or John Williams for their music is an exercise in futility, but a lot of composers are struggling to get recognition. If their piece doesn't have a studio recording, chances are they made a recording of one of the performances for their records and would be happy to send it your way.
A last resort would be the Naxos Music Library. A lot of universities have subscriptions to the online database. It can be hard to find the portal on the university's website to connect to it however. If you're not a student, then it's only available with a subscription fee for streaming classical music. They have an incredible selection, however.
Finally, if you've ascertained with complete certainty that there exists no recording at all of the piece and it means that much to you...COMMISSION ONE! I'm dead serious. As a music student I can testify that there are oodles of young, talented classical musicians out there who'd love to take on a project such as that. If you live near a good music school, that's where I'd start. Faculty are a good place to ask about putting together a project as they can help with recruiting. Generally they'll pass on your offer to their students and other relevant faculty, provided you make your case well why this given piece should be recorded. Students may do this for free, but you're more likely to get the creme of the school if you offer to pay them. Music students will play on the (relative) cheap. Figure a bare minimum of $15-20 a service per musician plus $5 for every hour that service lasts past the first hour. You can reduce that with the promise of food.
In summary, finding classical music isn't necessarily easy, particularly if you want to be particular about it. However, it is possible provided you're willing to be outgoing and connect with the community.
Don't be ignorant - ipods support Apple Lossless.
It is not just the Mozart and Bach type of classic that is missing. Things like Dixieland jazz and Rockabilly also are quite hard to come by. Our musical heritage is being lost. A lot of this loss is caused by the copyright nuts. If they would let outfits like Stream Tuner alone much music could be preserved. As it is many of the tunes could not be properly recorded when originally created as machines did not exist that could do the job. So what we are left with are people in the 1950 era playing the old tunes and re-issuing that music. That creates that copyright nightmare all over again.
DG did an early digital (Philips) recording of Tchaikovsky's 4,5 and 6th as performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker and conducted (of course) by Von Karajan. This was, for me, "the" recording ever since I was a teen and first heard it. Anyway, you can buy even those recordings on their site. It's not as if they just have new stuff, or just have giant classics (although that recording was important in many ways) - they've been moving toward having EVERYTHING in their catalog online. And once you buy it, it's yours - I've had two oops events and all it took to regain them was to log back into the site and add them to my download queue. They also have been known to give out freebies on certain holidays.
Oh yeah - and there's usenet. You may find it hard to believe, but there's quite a lot being shared there.
Ah yes, I can see the conversations with our son now.
"Daddy, why aren't you and Mommy married?"
"Well, you see son, every 6-8 months I listen to classical music for a few weeks and Mommy doesn't like it very much." ;-)
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