The Digital Music Revolution: What Download Sites Have to Offer -- Part Nine
This month I spent a lot of time at the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Digital Music Store, finding some expected blockbusters but also discovering some unanticipated gems.
The BSO site is a case of an artistic institution blowing its own horn, something we can expect to see more of from both organizations and individual artists. Its direct-to-the-audience method of distribution eliminates the middle man to offer lower prices and still generate a profit. The only downside is the missing stumble-upon effect that sites like HDtracks and Magnatune offer. Because the BSO is casting a narrower net with its online store, fewer people will discover these recordings by accident.
The Digital Music Store is part of the BSO’s main site, which also lists upcoming concerts and sells tickets for live events. That said, the store has its own section, so you don’t have to bother with the rest of the site unless you feel like exploring. The store’s best feature may be its pricing and membership offers. Each title carries an individual price, ranging from $8.99 to $12.99, but the store also offers memberships: $30 buys you a membership for three months, and $50 gets you a whole year. Once you’re a member, you can download anything you want from the site, including new titles that appear during your membership term. I joined for three months, and I’ve already downloaded 17 albums. That comes out to $1.76 a download, which is quite a bargain!
Most of the downloads are offered in four formats: MP3 (320kbps), AIFF and WMA stereo (24-bit, 88.2kHz), and WMA surround (24-bit, 88.2kHz). All but the MP3 downloads qualify as high resolution. The files are also DRM (digital rights management) free, so once you’ve downloaded them you can use the files as you see fit. As with most other sites, you must create an account, which makes return visits easy, and you can pay with major credit cards. And thanks to the site’s own download manager, downloading is simple. You create a destination folder for the files (I prefer a folder on my desktop) and the manager does the rest. Even better, the downloads are reasonably fast (depending on the format you select).
The site’s selection is slightly limited. But the quality of each recording makes up for the lack of titles. The Boston Symphony Orchestra is featured in live HD recordings of Mahler’s Symphony No.6, Brahms’s German Requiem, and Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, as well as William Bolcom’s Eighth Symphony and Lyric Concerto for flute, featuring James Galway. All of these titles are conducted by music director James Levine. Applause is left in for the works with noisier endings (Ravel and Bolcom) but omitted for the Mahler and Brahms. The music is performed with fire and precision and recorded in state-of-the-art sound. The bass is focused, the highs are sweet, the soundstage is wide and fairly deep, and the dynamic range is very wide.
The store also features recordings from the Boston Pops and conductor Keith Lockhart: The Red Sox Album (which features "Casey at the Bat" and a lot of thrilling patriotic music), Sleigh Ride (which is curiously listed as a "partial album"), Oscar and Tony: Award-Winning Music from the Stage and Screen, and America (another partial album). Lovers of chamber music will find a luminous recent studio recording of Mozart’s various quartet configurations for winds and strings performed by the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, including the clarinet, horn, flute, and oboe quintets.
I was surprised to see that a number of recordings from the BSO’s From the Broadcast Archives series have been included. Because some of these radio performances are dated, they vary in quality and are available only in MP3 (though many still sound wonderful). But the performances are incredible, particularly Respighi’s Pines of Rome, which is the best I’ve heard. Also included are a riveting, hell-for-leather reading of Vaughan Williams’s Symphony No.4 from maestro Sir Colin Davis, a most effective rendition of Shostakovich’s Symphony No.1 from the former (and now late) music director Erich Leinsdorf, and a lot more. All of these recordings include applause, and it’s not stretching the truth to say they all deserved it.
A concert by the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra from 2006 rounds out the listings. Considering the quality of the performances, sound, and repertory, the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s online store offers download gold for the price of tin. The site offers a truly remarkable bargain