A basic guide to downloading - Page 5

James Jolly on classical music downloads on the web

Music from the web

Pristine Classical

Pristine Audio has a dual role as remastering experts who offer their very fine transfers on custom-made CD or as downloads. Focusing on out-of-copyright recordings (in other words, of public domain music recorded before 1957), it has amassed a large catalogue full of the great names of 20th-century music-making. One wonderful series is the restoration of the entire HMV Haydn Quartet Society discs from the Pro Arte Quartet recorded in the 1930s. Pristine has been exploring new transfer methods recently and has been achieving some very impressive results. Some of the highlights of the Music & Arts catalogue have been treated this way and are sounding better than ever! Another powerful reason to visit this site is that it offers the recordings issued in the late 1920 and early 1950s on Gramophone’s own label, the National Gramophonic Society. Fascinating chamber music releases – including John Barbirolli’s first recording – have been cleaned up with remarkable success.

CHARM

Unveiled in March 2010 this amazing archive, CHARM (Centre for the Histpry and Analysis of Recorded Music) is a must-visit destination for historic performance enthusiasts. Over 5000 sound files (largely of out-of-copyright recordings) have been made available to stream (MP3) or download (FLAC files) from the CHARM website free of charge. Many of the recordings fall into CHARM’s project “Musicians of Britain and Ireland, 1900-1950”, and offer a unique opportunity to experience changing performance practices in the first 50 years of recorded sound. For example, you can listen to William Byrd madrigals recorded by The English Singers in 1923, John Barbirolli and his Chamber Orchestra in Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro in 1929, or even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle speaking about spiritualism in 1930. There’s even a thrilling recording of Mischa Spoliansky and the Julian Fuchs Symphony Orchestra playing Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue in 1927. My advice would be to sample first by streaming (and the player doesn't react immediately so be patient) and then download the FLAC file (which, because of its size, does take a while to download). But persevere, this is a real treasure-trove.

Own-label websites

Why rely on others when you can do it yourself? This is a philosophy that has always fostered innovation and imagination – and in the world of classical music has been the biggest force for advance. A number of labels have launched their own digital stores. Top of the list must be Linn Records, not only because it’s a classy little label in its own right, but also because its technical instructions and usability are second to none. Anyone interested in downloading should spend some time on the Linn site reading the FAQ section. The answers are level-headed and honest – and extremely helpful.

Hyperion bided its time before entering the download market but the wait was well worth it. In a masterly move, the company’s excellent website – clean, informative and nicely logical – was simply overlaid with an activatable download function. You say which format you want to download (MP3 or FLAC – interestingly priced the same) and the site will offer you everything in your chosen format. And pricing has been approached sensibly (and there is the very obvious – but rarely done – ability to load your wallet so you can download your music without having to enter your credit card details each time). There are also some neat features such as the ability to link a work that has been interspersed, say, with plainchant and download it unbroken. Hyperion also offers the simultaneous download of song texts and translations. 

The UK wing of the vast Universal Music company, Decca UK (né Universal Classics and Jazz) has its own site which is a useful destination for the gems of the Decca, DG and Philips catalogues as well as a growing amount of jazz material. If you’re a fan of Deutsche Grammophon – the Yellow Label, and for many the classical music brand par excellence – then check out its own webshop. It’s a rhapsody in yellow that offers the entire DG catalogue (and now quite a few Decca and Philips albums too) in the environment of the company’s activities, both present and past. Music here is DRM-free and competitively priced.

The Montréal-based Analekta has launched its own download site. As has become increasingly the norm with independent companies you are offered MP3 files (192kBps) and two types of lossless FLAC files (44.1 kHz, 16 bits or the studio-quality 88.2 kHz, 24 bits). And if you buy a recording in FLAC format you automatically also get the MP3 equivalent. Like the newly unveiled Hyperion site (a model of its kind), Analekta allows you to load your wallet to speed up later purchase and it also operates a kind of “frequent flyer” programme (one you’ve accumulated 100 points you’ll be credited with Canadian $10). Analekta contains some treasures and also provides a fine window onto French Canadian musicians and music-making. You can sample all tracks  (complete) before deciding whether to download them. 

Toccata Classics, the record company arm of Toccata Press, furthers the aim of exploring the byways of classical music. And as a label it has turned up some real treats: encountering Donald Tovey as composer rather than as the author of a series of splendid analytical essays on music has been a real ear-opener. Well, Toccata Classics has grasped the nettle and launched a download service that works well. If exotica from the Baroque to present day appeals, why not pay them a visit? And Toccata's disc of Dvorak songs transcribed for violin or viola by Josef Suk and played by him with Ashkenazy at the piano is glorious!

Mention of new music brings us to NMC, a record company that has been doing a unique service for new British music for many years. Having built up an impressive catalogue – and gained a few Gramophone Awards on the way – logic demanded that NMC make it available for downloading. And it’s a splendid place to go for challenging, and invariably, deeply rewarding musical experiences. Rather charmingly you search by the composers using their first name rather than their surname – but I guess that just adds a touch of familiarity. There are also some excellent samplers that are great ways to see whether a particular composer appeals to you. The latest addition to this dynamic organisation’s site is a New Music Map that allows you to put each composer in his or her musical context (teachers, influences and so forth). Visually striking, it’s something that will obviously develop with time. 

To the future

These are exciting times for music-lovers: there has never been so much music available ever before and now the ways to get at it have just got easier. If you live miles from a record store (provided that store even stocks classical music), then downloading is an option you should explore. It will inevitably become the obvious  way for record companies to keep their back-catalogues available – a truly appealing prospect. Welcome to a world of infinite choice – the head spins!