Classical music streaming during quarantine one-stop shop

[Sir Velo]

I would just make the obvious point that how you implement CD/Hires Streaming - media player/software, separate DAC/Streamer, good cabling, filtering of USB etc - will probably make a greater difference to your SQ result than that inherent between, say, Tidal and Qobuz....

Contrary to the What HiFi comments, the Qobuz Discover feature works wonderfully well through Audirvana+....as I say it is all about implementation....

I agree with jlw's comments except that I use the desktop player for windows which is incredibly easy to set up and select your settings preferences.

I should add that I would take What Hi Fi's comments with a large bucket load of sodium choloride.

[jayne lee wilson]

I agree with jlw's comments except that I use the desktop player for windows which is incredibly easy to set up and select your settings preferences.

I should add that I would take What Hi Fi's comments with a large bucket load of sodium choloride.

Absolutely - often very superficial and unreliable.....

[gurnemanz]

I've been enjoying the daily streams from the Oxford Lieder Spring Song Festival. which obviously had to be cancelled. Song fans like me will be very grateful to them for making the effort of providing this social distancing version as a very rewarding substitute.

[bluestateprommer]

General commentary from the NYT's Joshua Barone on the flood of classical music material available now via streaming, with a warning:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/31/arts/music/classical-music-streaming-coronavirus.html

"Like almost every other live stream of the past month, Deutsche Grammophon’s felt dangerously reminiscent of the internet’s early days, when prestige journalism — including The New York Times — was available for free. Publishers later regretted not monetizing their work from the start; I hope the classical music industry doesn’t end up in the same position.

Freelancers, whose incomes depend on live performance, are in crisis as even summer festivals begin to announce their cancellations. The New York Philharmonic is anticipating a loss of $10 million in revenue because of its closure; the Met Opera, up to $60 million.

And yet these are the same artists and organizations giving away their music for free. The Philharmonic launched a website of archived performances, NY Phil Plays On, and is broadcasting older concerts on Facebook every Thursday. The Met is digging into its collection of high-definition movie theater transmissions for nightly streams. It’s heartening to witness, and the exposure may be helpful, but it doesn’t even begin to cover lost revenue.

So if you like what you hear, donate. Think of the industry as a giant Central Park busker, happy to play but leaving that guitar case open and ready for tips.

The world of classical music has never been more accessible. Rarely, though, has it ever been so endangered. And it’s up to all of us to decide just how much it’s worth."

[BBMmk2]

I don't think £150 per annum for high-resolution streaming is so bad. Until recently it was £199 for CD-quality only.

How much is that a month?

[Bryn]

How much is that a month?

If one chooses to pay monthly, I think it's £14.99. You get two months 'free' by paying annually.

[jayne lee wilson]

How much is that a month?

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/music/streaming/offers

[bluestateprommer]

Just stumbled across some audio archives offerings from the Boston Symphony Orchestra, with live concerts as far back as a 1938 Beethoven 9 from Koussevitzky from their "Week 1" set:

https://www.bso.org/brands/bso/at-home/bso-at-home-week-1-bso-music-directors.aspx

"Week 2" includes some performances with Doriot Anthony Dwyer, the BSO's (apologies to Bournemouth folks for the acronym use here) past principal flute, in the spotlight (she died recently, age 98):

https://www.bso.org/brands/bso/at-home/bso-at-home-week-2-great-soloists-with-the-bso.aspx

For audiocasts, it looks like 4 more weeks to come. The audiocasts even include Pierre Monteux, clearly from the days after his pre-Koussevitzky music directorship of the orchestra. Will have to make time for these.

[LMcD]

Just a reminder of tonight's LSO concert, featuring works by Balakirev, Rachmaninov and Shostakovitch.

[bluestateprommer]

Heard this week half of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's recent re-creation of the Beethoven Akademie 1808 concert:

http://inconcert.cincinnatisymphony.org/

This was obviously the 2nd half of the full event. Unfortunately, I either missed an earlier airing of the first half (or the Cincinnati radio station didn't air it). The biggest surprise was Inon Barnatan's improvisation, much in the apparent spirit of the original concert. While I wouldn't call any of Louis Langree's readings mind-blowing, he and the orchestra were solid throughout, and the audience clearly seemed happy. From reading press accounts here, the Cincinnati SO/Langree partnership has been getting a lot of good press and vibes. My sense is that it's rather like the chemistry in the Vasily Petrenko/RLPO or Jurowski/LPO partnerships. It may be up for only a few days more.

For anyone who wants to listen to one of your compatriots working recently on this side of the pond, WRTI is featuring in its next Philadelphia Orchestra, this coming Sunday, the recent concert conducted by Edward Gardner, the second-to-last concert before the Fabulous Philadelphians had to shut down live events:

https://www.wrti.org/post/philadelphian-orchestra-concert-wrti-music-britten-elgar-and-daugherty

Britten: Sinfonia da Requiem
Michael Daugherty: Once Upon a Castle (Paul Jacobs, organ)
Elgar: Enigma Variations

WRTI doesn't archive, and it starts at 6 PM UK time (I think) on Sunday, if you want to plan accordingly.

[ucanseetheend]

Heard this week half of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's recent re-creation of the Beethoven Akademie 1808 concert:

http://inconcert.cincinnatisymphony.org/

This was obviously the 2nd half of the full event. Unfortunately, I either missed an earlier airing of the first half (or the Cincinnati radio station didn't air it). The biggest surprise was Inon Barnatan's improvisation, much in the apparent spirit of the original concert. While I wouldn't call any of Louis Langree's readings mind-blowing, he and the orchestra were solid throughout, and the audience clearly seemed happy. From reading press accounts here, the Cincinnati SO/Langree partnership has been getting a lot of good press and vibes. My sense is that it's rather like the chemistry in the Vasily Petrenko/RLPO or Jurowski/LPO partnerships. It may be up for only a few days more.

For anyone who wants to listen to one of your compatriots working recently on this side of the pond, WRTI is featuring in its next Philadelphia Orchestra, this coming Sunday, the recent concert conducted by Edward Gardner, the second-to-last concert before the Fabulous Philadelphians had to shut down live events:

https://www.wrti.org/post/philadelphian-orchestra-concert-wrti-music-britten-elgar-and-daugherty

Britten: Sinfonia da Requiem
Michael Daugherty: Once Upon a Castle (Paul Jacobs, organ)
Elgar: Enigma Variations

WRTI doesn't archive, and it starts at 6 PM UK time (I think) on Sunday, if you want to plan accordingly.

Weblinks are dead

[Petrushka]

New York Philharmonic Mahler Festival

https://nyphil.org/concerts-tickets/explore/series-and-festivals/mahlers-new-york?clicklocation=hp_hero_1

[bluestateprommer]

Recently heard the newest offering from the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (http://inconcert.cincinnatisymphony.org/), which had Eun Sun Kim as guest conductor, and Anne-Sophie Mutter with the Beethoven Violin Concerto. I'm wondering if this particular concert was of the performance last fall that got attention, because a very rude and disruptive audience member was filming A-SM during the performance with her cell phone camera, which caused A-SM no end of distraction, as noted by the local classical reporter in Cincinnati, Janelle Gelfand:

https://janellesnotes.wordpress.com/2019/10/10/star-violinist-anne-sophie-mutter-speaks-out-about-cincinnati-incident/

Of course, in all the fracas, the worst and most narcissistic gossip in classical music (no need to sully this thread with his name) came down on the wrong side of the argument (as he pretty much is guaranteed to do, like other arrogant narcissists such as in Washington, DC), against A-SM. I could hear some odd pacing in the 1st movement, which may have been due to that disrupter. However, after the miscreant was escorted from Music Hall Cincinnati, A-SM and ESK restarted from the top of the 2nd movement, which presumably allowed the radio people to patch together a complete performance without interruption. ESK directed the "math equation" opening piece well, and also Brahms 4. ESK had a few idiosyncratic tempo nudges in the finale, but it was otherwise a pretty straight-up, no frills reading.

For Petrushka, some more Haitink with the Boston SO for you, from this new set of Boston SO archive performances, with Uncle Bernie covering Roussel 3:

https://www.bso.org/brands/bso/at-home/bso-at-home-week-5-the-french-tradition-and-the-bso.aspx

Quite a bit of Charles Munch directing French music there as well, no surprise.

Something else to look forward to, at least for me, is Max Reger's Piano Concerto, from the late great Peter Serkin, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, & Blomstedt later this week, for a limited time (48 hours, it looks like):

https://www.gewandhausorchester.de/stream/

[LMcD]

On three Mondays starting on Monday 27th April the Wigmore Hall will be streaming a concert for 24 hours only at 7.30 p.m. Artistes will include the Ebene Quartet on May 4th, whom I certainly don't want to miss!

[hmvman]

The Malmö Symphony Orchestra are streaming a concert live on Thursdays at 18.00 (UK time). https://malmolive.se/

Also available to watch later on their YouTube channel.