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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?"
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.
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.
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
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.
IMHO: iTunes is (or at least was ... I stopped looking last year) pretty pathetic. Here's why. Suppose you want to listen to Bach suites for solo cello. Sure, they've got a version or two, but I want a version played by a master on a great instrument. Casals? Check, but old. Rostropovich? Nope, sorry.
Or, I want to listen to something (a lot) more current: Kronos Quartet? Some. Alarm will sound? ok. Bang on a Can? Nope, sorry.
It *does* seem to have both Glenn Gould recordings of Goldberg, which is an improvement (and, yes, they're very different).
This, especially the latter observation is surely connected to the recent /. discussion about use of computer-controlled instruments. It seems to have taken iTunes a very long time indeed to understand that two recordings of the same piece, by different ensembles or performers, using different instruments, under different circumstances, reveal the piece in entirely different ways. They're not the same thing.