Slashdot Mirror
Orchestra To Turn Copyright-Free Classical Scores Into Copyright-Free Music
destinyland writes "An online music site has raised over $13,000 to hire a full orchestra to record royalty-free classical music. ('"Although the actual symphonies are long out of copyright, there is separate protection for every individual performance by an orchestra," notes one technology site.') MusOpen has reached their fundraising goal for both the orchestra and a recording facility, and will now record the complete symphonies of Beethoven, Brahms, Sibelius and Tchaikovsky. And because their fundraising deadline doesn't end until Tuesday, they've promised to add additional recordings for every additional $1,000 raised."
For the kind of musicians who you can hire to play all of Beethoven's symphonies for a total (for all orchestra members) of $13,000 (or $20,000, or $50,000) I think I would take the synthesizers.
I used to have a complete boxed set of Beethoven symphonies put out by some cut-rate Japanese distributor. I think the whole set was about $7. There were several prominent oboe squawks in the first movement of the Third Symphony. And don't get me started on what cheap Japanese singers sound like singing the Ode To Joy in the Ninth Symphony in German, with Japanese accents.
No, this will be another cut-out bin grade recording. Nothing to see here. Move on, now.