The Classical Download Thread

[Roasted Swan]

Qobuz fest is going on now. Plenty of good sales. Most of them are 40% off.

Good shout - an absolute STEAL is this

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/stanislaw-skrowaczewski-90th-birthday-collection-stanisaw-skrowaczewski/njoxsdy2mwmga

The Stanislaw Skrowaczewski 90th birthday "box".  28(!) discs worth of FLAC downloads - complete Bruckner/Brahms/Beethoven/Schumann and much else for under £9.00.  Crazy value before you even consider how fine these versions are.  The Bruckner alone worth the set multiple times over.  Buy NOW!!!

[windstimme]

I see a lot of good info posted here. From my experience, I'd like to add that a lot of music on the internet is of limited audio quality. I generally value audio quality as much as I value a good performance. Of course, some very old recordings are of limited fidelity, but are still valuable if the performance is worthy.
I've downloaded and paid for albums from classical archives and the files were compressed but relatively good quality. There is an audio codec (encoder/decoder) that is lossless (it doesn't degrade the quality of the original. I creates 'flac' files, which stands for 'Free Lossless Codec' and can be used on almost any computer for free.

[Roasted Swan]

I see a lot of good info posted here. From my experience, I'd like to add that a lot of music on the internet is of limited audio quality. I generally value audio quality as much as I value a good performance. Of course, some very old recordings are of limited fidelity, but are still valuable if the performance is worthy.
I've downloaded and paid for albums from classical archives and the files were compressed but relatively good quality. There is an audio codec (encoder/decoder) that is lossless (it doesn't degrade the quality of the original. I creates 'flac' files, which stands for 'Free Lossless Codec' and can be used on almost any computer for free.

Fair point but download platforms like Qobuz/Presto/Naxos/eclassical all offer FLAC downloads pretty much as standard - or at least as an option.  Qobuz (I think) only offer at least CD quality (ie FLAC) downloads.  Bizzarely Amazon's downloads seem stuck in the MP3 world - and quite often lower sampling rates at that so I never look at them for download options.  Presto regularly do a "hi-res for the price of a standard" offer as well.

[DavidW]

Good shout - an absolute STEAL is this

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/stanislaw-skrowaczewski-90th-birthday-collection-stanisaw-skrowaczewski/njoxsdy2mwmga

The Stanislaw Skrowaczewski 90th birthday "box".  28(!) discs worth of FLAC downloads - complete Bruckner/Brahms/Beethoven/Schumann and much else for under £9.00.  Crazy value before you even consider how fine these versions are.  The Bruckner alone worth the set multiple times over.  Buy NOW!!!

btw, I did buy that big box. Even though I have his Bruckner cycle on CD, the rest of the set was still worth it.

[Roasted Swan]

Bought as part of Qobuz's sale these two 'boxes' (each has the equivalent of 14 CD's in FLAC quality for under £9 UK cost);



Given that the bulk of the music is pretty much "core" repertoire its likely to involve duplication.  Seek out Jabba the Hurwitz's reviews online and you will discover that (any suprise?) he considers Marriner one of the worst conductors of Romantic repertoire of all time.  This recent display of gleeful smug dismissal was really just part of his dancing on the grave of Norrington - heh but why not give someone else a good smack while you're about it.

Of course the truth is that these performances are generally very good - certainly in terms of playing and recording - and the interpretations are all at least attractive.  Would anything become my No.1 choice / personal reference?; no probably not but this is music making that is a pleasure to be in the company of.  I accept that Marriner can be perceived as 'just' a safe pair of hands but his choices are always intelligent and the beauty/power of the music comes through.  At this price I am genuinely glad to have added them to my collection.  According to Hurwitz that probably means I'm blinkered/biased/deaf/ignorant or whatever - so be it.

[Spotted Horses]

Qobuz fest is going on now. Plenty of good sales. Most of them are 40% off.

...but, alas, they still refuse to take my credit card because I'm a "security risk."

[DavidW]

Eclassical sent me a 50% off code. Check your spam if you missed it!