Free downloads from the concertgebouworchestra (120th anniversary)

[otterhouse]

On the occassion of the 120th anniversary of the RCO:
"Starting on October the 15th you will be able to download a free
recording of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra every day. The
recordings are available until the 24th of November 2008."
Download no. 1:
Franz Schubert - Symphony no. 8 'Unfinished'
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Nikolaus Hamoncourt
(recorded in 1997).
320 kbps MP3
http://kco.radio4.nl/?lang=en

There is registration required, but the recordings are unique!

Enjoy!

Rolf

 

[Contratrombone64]

WOW - will check that out, thanks otter

 

[toto]

I nabbed the Schubert. Great stuff! There are 9 more works that will become available a day at a time.

(With the registration they ask for all sorts of personal data – they now have a Mr. J. Smith's particulars.)

 

[Contratrombone64]

there you go, toto, I knew you were a Smith ... AND I knew you were male.

 

[Krummhorn]

Rolf,

Thanks for the heads up on this great opportunity. 10 complete great symphonies in 10 days ... way cool :tiphat:

Listening to the Schubert right now ... beautiful recording and sound quality.

 

[Corno Dolce]

Aloha Rolf,

WOW!!! That is so cool - Concertgebouw downloads - Right on! Thanx for the link.

Cheerio,

CD

 

[Conservationist]

Awesome! I'm grabbing and will archive.

I was trying to compile a canonical list of free classical music online, and came up with this:

http://www.corrupt.org/news/free_classical_music_mp3s

There's also our DC++ hub, but I can't guarantee both free and legal there. I'd prefer both free and legal, but I won't lie to anyone: I download a ton of stuff and obsessively buy only the really good stuff

 

[Kuhlau]

Having downloaded all ten symphonies late last night, I've just listened to the Saint-Saens. His Third Symphony - the so-called-but-incorrectly-so 'Organ' Symphony - is a work I know very well from about a dozen or more recordings that I own. So it's only natural that I might be a bit particular about what I expect from any 'new' recordings of it.

This free download of the work begins excellently; the first three minutes are exactly what I want from the music. Then things start to veer a tad. There's the occasional slip in the woodwinds and brass, and the while the tempo is almost ideal, a little shade of rubato wouldn't have gone a miss.

The poco adagio section begins slowly - too slowly - and maintains a speed (or lack thereof) which stretches the music a bit out of shape. I started to lose the overall line, and actually got a little bored at one point. Then as the second movement opens - bear in mind that Saint-Saens wrote this work in two movements, even though it sounds like four - I was hoping for some fire. But it wasn't there. The whole first half of the second movement lacked passion for me - it just felt too tame.

Tame is also how I'd describe the organ's entrance in the finale. I have versions in my collection that sound majestic, glorious, even thundering. This performance gave me polite, and that's not what I want when I'm listening to a symphony whose composer reportedly put into it everything he had to give. The ending is okay, but I wanted spectacular. A bit of a disappointment ... but hey, it was free.

FK