# Free legal audio down loads.



## Guest

As we now seem to be finding more free legal music down loads on the internet wouldn't it be worth keeping them on one dedicated thread, the recent 10 symphonies from the RCO was a excellent starter, we could include all genres but only complete works or albums, and of course *audio not youtube video clips*, perhaps just give a brief description of what is offered at what bit rate and for how long it would be available and perhaps include some chamber, choral, concertos, recitals etc etc, What do you think?

I will start the ball rolling with a modest offering from Radio NZ, each month they give one or two d/l mostly Orchestral and Chamber, it is only at 192kbps but that's good enough for mp3, this month consists of:
February 2009
Schubert: String Quartet No 14 in D minor D810, Death and the Maiden
Performed by the NZ St Qt, they really are very good.

March 2009
Dvořák: Symphony No 8 in G Op 88
performed by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero
Both are still available at http://www.radionz.co.nz/concert/programmes/podcastclassics

For Bruckner admirers I found this link on my PC heaven knows where it came from but there is some good d/l on it, I have just d/l the 9th

February, 2009 down load - Hubert Soudant / Symphony No. 9 w/ Original Carragan Finale
@320kbps excellent on headphones have yet to burn CD

link = http://www.abruckner.com/downloads/downloadofthemonth/


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## Guest

The Andras Schiff lectures on Beethoven's Piano sonatas.

http://music.guardian.co.uk/classical/page/0,,1943867,00.html


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## Rachovsky

Now that this is stickied it should serve as an easy access to free recordings. This being said, I will contribute the only one that sticks out in my mind right now:

Peabody Symphony Orchestra Recordings
http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/psorecordings


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## nickgray

http://www.europarchive.org/collection.php?id=public_classical_music_BeG

Tons of vinyl rips, afair (haven't downloaded any from there) they're old recordings..


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## Guest

* More RCO*
Bizet Sym in C Maj
Schumann Sym #1
Beethoven Sym #3 Eroica
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Bernard Haitink
@320kbps
http://haitink.radio4.nl/en/download/work_1/bizet_symfonie_in_c.html


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## ladyrebecca

Dime A Dozen (http://www.dimeadozen.org/) requires membership but is a fantastic resource for live recorded (and legal) audio. Their classical selection is often digital FM transfers, etc. but there are some wonderful recordings here. They are vigilant about copyright infringement protection.

Another great resource is, of course, iTunes - search through their podcasts, they often have some very nice free concerts there.

Also, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum concerts are all in podcast form via iTunes and available on their website.

(Source: Let's Call This)

PS: It appears the audio is not available for NA in the European Archive. Too bad!


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## Guest

*ladyrebecca* how do you view the available d/l at Dime a dozen??


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## ladyrebecca

Andante said:


> *ladyrebecca* how do you view the available d/l at Dime a dozen??


Hi Andante, you must be a (free) member, and they cap membership at ~100k at any given time, though slots constantly open up. Once you're signed up, then you just go to torrents -> browse or search and limit to Classical, etc.


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## Guest

*lady Rebecca,* I just can't find a way in, each time they are fully subscribed, must be a hell of a good site, will keep on trying lol.
The other link that you gave [Isabella Stewart gardner museum] is much more user friendly and at the moment I am d/l "Beethoven, before and after" but it is a very slow procedure over an hour for 43MB. Thanks for the links.


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## Kuhlau

Completely concur with the recommendation of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum concerts - I've downloaded all but five of them (which aren't currently uploaded to their archive), and the 12 or so that I've listened to have been excellent.

A similarly superb podcast can be found by adding the following feed URL to whatever program you use to capture such things: http://streams.wgbh.org/online/clas/clas_performance.xml - and WGBH, like the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, boasts some terrific archived performances.

FK


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## Guest

It is a pity that both sites ISG Museum and wbgh are only at 128kbps which is fine for lectures etc but a bit thin for music however They both seem to have some gems available, keep me busy for ages.
*Kuhlau* were your d/l from ISGM very slow? or have I hit a busy time.
I have just made membership of dime a dozen

How on earth do you d/l from Dime a dozen I found [Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips - conductor
Royal Albert Hall, London (UK) (Concert Prom 8)
22 july 2008.] but I can't find the d/l button *HELP*


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## ladyrebecca

Andante said:


> It is a pity that both sites ISG Museum and wbgh are only at 128kbps which is fine for lectures etc but a bit thin for music however They both seem to have some gems available, keep me busy for ages.
> *Kuhlau* were your d/l from ISGM very slow? or have I hit a busy time.
> I have just made membership of dime a dozen
> 
> How on earth do you d/l from Dime a dozen I found [Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips - conductor
> Royal Albert Hall, London (UK) (Concert Prom 8)
> 22 july 2008.] but I can't find the d/l button *HELP*


Hey, congratulations. A little persistence seems to be required these days to get in there. Now you're in, just be aware that they have some usage guidelines where they clean house of accounts that are not being actively used.

So, in order to download it, there should be a link for the .torrent file. You need a BitTorrent client in order to use the torrent file to connect to the other peers and download the file. The Dime wiki is extensive but pretty comprehensive. Enjoy!


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## Kuhlau

Andante, the podcasts from the Isabella Stewart Gardiner Museum took about ten minutes each to download. But that's on my crappy 2MB connection.

FK


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## Guest

*Kuhlau* it must have been a busy time just d/l one in about 6-7min its amazing how a lot of traffic slows down things.


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## Enkhbat

It's very useful thread. I've been looking for this.
Thank you Andante for opened the thread


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## Kuhlau

Thanks for this. 

FK


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## Scirel

Thanks to all for these posts, and for some new sites of which I did not know ...

But I had posted some others on my personal blog which were not found here, and have updated it to include the better sites I found here. I will keep this list updated as more sites become known to me.

The Danish Radio site is particularly nice, as well as the Avant Garde, the Pandora, and a place to find the stashed BBC Beethoven symphony recordings that they had made available some time back. Enjoy...

http://scirel.wordpress.com/2009/03/19/free-classical-music-on-the-web/


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## Kuhlau

Scirel, thanks for starting your blog to catalogue free classical music sites. I've add links to it in three places on my blog: An everyman for himself.

FK


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## classicalmusic

www.1classical.com


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## ladyrebecca

1classical seems to be a good site for quick reference, though I don't like that its crawling seems to strip the performers of all credit.


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## Kuhlau

It would be useful to know who are the performers of the music gathered together at 1classical, I agree.

FK


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## Scirel

Yes - I checked out the Beethoven's 9th available on this site and it is indeed the 1984 Berlin - von Karajan release from DG, which is commercially available. So I don't consider this to be a "legal" site.

It was interesting, though, to hear how the sound quality is affected in the mp3 interpretation of the release. It was tough to really say these are the same, but after careful listening of the original disc (which I happen to own) and this mp3, I could tell they are.

Thanks - Scirel


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## Guest

Thanks for the contributions guys we are getting some great links have just d/l Rosenthal Beethoven Violin son from Scirels link and @256kbps what a gem.


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## Guest

Kuhlau said:


> It would be useful to know who are the performers of the music gathered together at 1classical, I agree.
> 
> FK


I have also d/l from 1 Classical,com I have d/l Beethoven 6 and Mozart Il Re Pastore both @320kbps so extra good quality but can't find the Artists, are these legal?? we don't want to promote crook sites


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## Kuhlau

I'm less concerned about the legality of the site and more concerned that we don't have details of performers, labels, et al. 

FK


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## Guest

I have had a request for all links to be put onto one page, I have made a rough draft taking from Scirel's blog and posts on this thread, any objections or ideas?

Rough Draft http://www.box.net/shared/6o0oc8g8o9


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## Guest

*No objections were received so here is the page, *

120 year celibration freeby RCO 10 Sym mp3
http://kco.radio4.nl/index.php?lang=en

Haitink Recordings
http://haitink.radio4.nl/en/home/80-...d-haitink.html

The Danish Radio Freebies: 
http://www.dr.dk/P2/P2+Koncerten/Koncerter/

The Danish Radio Freebies:
http://www.dr.dk/Orkestre/DR+Radiosy...tret/index.htm

Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum 
http://www.gardnermuseum.org/music/library.asp

Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum 
http://www.gardnermuseum.org/music/p...theconcert.asp

Radio Deutsche Welle
http://rss.dw-world.de/xml/podcast_c...l-masterpieces 
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,...592000,00.html

Radio DW Beethoven Fest
http://www.dw-world.com/dw/article/0,,3592000,00.html 
http://www.dw-world.com/dw/article/0,,2128770,00.html

Avant Garde Project:
http://www.avantgardeproject.org/index.htm

The Pandora Recordings 
http://music.ibiblio.org/pub/multime...mp3/index.html

The BBC Beethoven Recordings:
http://beemp3.com/download.php?file=...+7+-+Beethoven

Radio NZ
http://www.radionz.co.nz/concert/aud...odcastclassics

Free Downloads Every Week:
http://musicdownloads.alexanderstreet.com/promo/ 
http://www.classical.com/free-classical-music.php

The Bruckner Downloads: 
http://www.abruckner.com/downloads/downloadofthemonth/

The WGBH Podcasts:
http://streams.wgbh.org/online/clas/...erformance.xml

Old recordings that are in the public domain: 
http://www.europarchive.org/media.ph...ac9ab145e30200 
http://www.karadar.com/Mp3composer/Default.htm

Piano Society
http://pianosociety.com/cms/index.php?section=1

Peabody Symphony Orchestra Recordings 
http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/psorecordings

Andras Schiff lectures.
http://music.guardian.co.uk/classica...943867,00.html

Dime a dozen, Torrent, membership required d/l= FLAC
http://www.dimeadozen.org/

Classical .com 
http://www.1classical.com/


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## Kuhlau

Thanks so much for compiling this, Andante. 

FK


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## Guest

Kuhlau said:


> Thanks so much for compiling this, Andante.
> 
> FK


You are making me blush


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## Scirel

*Thanks Andante...*

Yes - I add my thanks for getting these together in one place. We can update the list every few months as more sites become known...

In answer to your question about 1classical - I confirmed that the Beethoven 9th they post is the 1984 von Karajan release, so I would say, no, these are not all legal, though some might be.

Scirel


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## marval

That is a good list Andante, very useful thank you.


Margaret


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## Kuhlau

Thanks for confirming the situation with the Beethoven, Scirel.

FK


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## Scirel

*Updated freebies list from Scirel*

Hi all -

I have found a few more sites, and some are substantial. I have posted them on my blog site:

http://scirel.wordpress.com/2009/03/19/free-classical-music-on-the-web/

The real gems are the Idil Biret and the Musik Kollegium Winterthur sites, but there are some others I found as well (look toward the bottoms of both "parts").

I have also fixed the Deutsche Welle links. Thanks to Andante for catching this error!

I'll leave it up to Andante if he wants to update his list.

Regards, Scirel


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## Guest

Thanks Scirel you have been busy and given some interesting sites, unfortunately I can not add to the list on post # 27 [too old]. 
It may be more convenient for those that know of good sites to put them directly onto this dedicated thread [as was done in the first 6 posts] they can then be collected when there are enough to make up a second page.


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## gardnermuseum

*Gardner Museum podcasts*

Just wanted to share the great news that the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's free classical podcast "The Concert" and online music library have reached one million downloads! Many thanks for your support of our online music programs


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## Guest

Thanks for making them available, I suppose it would be bad manners if I asked for FLAC format or even 320kbps


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## seprenyiz

Mozart all compositions, Puccini - Tosca

www.albumuploader.noadsfree.com


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## Lisztfreak

And how about http://btjunkie.org/ ? Lots of torrents and huge quantities of music.


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## Mikael Lind

For piano music in the more laid-back Arvo Pärt kind-of-style, you can visit this link:
http://mikaellind.blogspot.com/2009/06/piano-improvisations-free-mp3-album.html
They are piano improvisations that I've recently recorded on an upright piano with a nice, old-school sound. I'm not a trained pianist, so don't expect any superb perfomance, but I hope you find the pieces unconventionally refreshing.


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## Conservationist

Scirel said:


> It was interesting, though, to hear how the sound quality is affected in the mp3 interpretation of the release.


Codec matters!


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## bassClef

Has anyone posted ths one yet:
http://orchestralworks.blogspot.com/

I'm not 100% of it's legality, and I'm only downloading my first one now so haven't verified the rar passwords actually work yet - but looks promising.


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## Guest

jezbo said:


> Has anyone posted ths one yet:
> http://orchestralworks.blogspot.com/
> 
> I'm not 100% of it's legality, and I'm only downloading my first one now so haven't verified the rar passwords actually work yet - but looks promising.


What format is the d/l ??


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## bassClef

The one I downloaded was mp3 192kbps - quite acceptable. And the rar didn't seem to be password protected.


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## Guest

bassClef said:


> The one I downloaded was mp3 192kbps - quite acceptable. And the rar didn't seem to be password protected.


I don't d/l much mp3 but when I convert I _also_ use 192k as you say it is adequate for mp3 players


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## bassClef

Well I can confirm those downloads are pretty good, I have downloaded a few now. I look on downloads like this as a way to have a lengthy preview - if I like any enough I'll buy the CD.


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## Guest

Two new d/l from Radio NZ until end of August mp3 @ 192kbps
Brahms - Cello Sonata No 2 in F Op 99

Bartok - Concerto for Orchestra

http://www.radionz.co.nz/podcasts/podcastclassics.rss


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## nickgray

bassClef said:


> Has anyone posted ths one yet:
> http://orchestralworks.blogspot.com/
> 
> I'm not 100% of it's legality, and I'm only downloading my first one now so haven't verified the rar passwords actually work yet - but looks promising.


Hmm... since mods didn't del this post, I guess a few other links wouldn't hurt (they're links to other websites, after all, not to the content).

avaxhome.ws/music/classical
boxset.ru
and a few blogspots:
i-bloggermusic.blogspot.com
classiclibrary.blogspot.com
leverkuhnscorner.blogspot.com
classic4everyone.blogspot.com


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## Scirel

*Freebies offered on Amazon - amazing!*

Wow - catch this one while you can - six full symphonies free on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Love-80s-Vol-1880s/dp/B002RHVBHU

256K - even Andante might be happy with that one


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## World Violist

Scirel said:


> Wow - catch this one while you can - six full symphonies free on Amazon:
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Love-80s-Vol-1880s/dp/B002RHVBHU
> 
> 256K - even Andante might be happy with that one


Actually, that's 7 full symphonies, unless you're not counting the Bruckner 9.

I'm taking it.


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## Guest

Scirel said:


> Wow - catch this one while you can - six full symphonies free on Amazon:
> 256K - even Andante might be happy with that one


I admit it is an improvement but only for mp3, you still need flac for CD transfer, do you think flac will ever become the norm ????


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## Lukecash12

It's a bit obvious, bit I'm surprised no one has mentioned http://imslp.org/wiki/ There are quite a few free sheet and audio music downloads on it, and every bit of it is legal.


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## Scirel

*Yes, I can count...*

Okay, so it was seven symphonies - I was misinformed when I got the link and just passed it on  That Borodin 3rd kinda snuck in there... BTW, I like Rubbra a lot too 

Anyhow, here is another one - all of Bach's organ works are being recorded and posted. Available in 128K mp3 and 256K AAC (would that be better for you, Andante? I mean, there's no percussion to sound fuzzy or anything 

http://www.blockmrecords.org/bach/index.htm


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## bassClef

Scirel said:


> Wow - catch this one while you can - six full symphonies free on Amazon:
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Love-80s-Vol-1880s/dp/B002RHVBHU
> 
> 256K - even Andante might be happy with that one


This is available in the US only?

Anyone from there want to download and share Borodin's 3rd? It's the only one I want (have all the others!)


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## Scirel

*Free Chandos downlad every month*

Here is another opportunity:

1. Go to this ste:

https://www.theclassicalshop.net/secure/login.asp?mp3page=/mp3index.asp

2. Register, and then sign up for the monthly newsletter.

3. You will be sent an email every month that includes a CD. I just got one - complete - 320Kbits.

Nice...


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## Guest

Scirel said:


> Anyhow, here is another one - all of Bach's organ works are being recorded and posted. Available in 128K mp3 and 256K AAC (would that be better for you, Andante? I mean, there's no percussion to sound fuzzy or anything
> 
> http://www.blockmrecords.org/bach/index.htm


*Scirel*, really, are you serious? Organ using mp3 @ 128k, sacrilege ? I have never tried AAC but from what I read it is well below FLAC and other lossless formats and does not transfer to CD at all well, but I have not tried AAC* has any one tried burning a CD from it and playing through a decent HiFi system? *
Thanks for the classicshop link I will register right away 

Having registered I am absolutely delighted to see that they are up to date, they offer FLAC-WMA-AIFF at last we can get decent downloads, whoopee for Scirel


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## Serge

The commemorative Tchaikovsky site offers a sizeable collection of the composer's music in mp3 format:

http://www.tchaikov.ru/music.html

The site is in Russian, so hopefully you don't have too much trouble figuring out what is what and how to download it.  (Generally, links to the files are on the bottom of the pages.)

Also, a number of Tchaikovsky recordings where the old Russian hymn theme is being used:

http://www.hymn.ru/god-save-in-tchaikovsky/

Enjoy!


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## Serge

*PSO Concert Recordings*

Peabody Symphony Orchestra

Just when you thought there was no such thing:

http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/psorecordings

Enjoy!


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## mamascarlatti

Andante said:


> *Kuhlau* it must have been a busy time just d/l one in about 6-7min its amazing how a lot of traffic slows down things.


Or its just the general [email protected]#n*ss of NZ broadband speeds. You can't even stream radio at my work in Newmarket.


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## Guest

mamascarlatti said:


> Or its just the general [email protected]#n*ss of NZ broadband speeds. You can't even stream radio at my work in Newmarket.


Hi Mama,
I must admit we are a bit slow, but it depends on what you are d/l, and how many are using it, I have started doing the odd mp3 d/l as my latest car has a CD player that will play MP3 CDs so this means I can put quite a few of my CDs onto 1 MP3 CD and it is quite adequate for a car.

Last week I d/l a choral CD (King's College) via a torrent took about 6 days (only 1 seed) I exceeded my BB quota and though I would try a certain pop artist all done in about 10min (60+ seeds)


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## Guest

Serge said:


> The commemorative Tchaikovsky site offers a sizeable collection of the composer's music in mp3 format:
> 
> http://www.tchaikov.ru/music.html
> 
> The site is in Russian, so hopefully you don't have too much trouble figuring out what is what and how to download it.  (Generally, links to the files are on the bottom of the pages.)
> 
> Also, a number of Tchaikovsky recordings where the old Russian hymn theme is being used:
> 
> http://www.hymn.ru/god-save-in-tchaikovsky/
> 
> Enjoy!


Thanks Serge, they are good sites, and google translates OK, also gives me chance to brush up my very poor Russian which I have not used for 40 something years


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## Serge

Andante said:


> Thanks Serge, they are good sites, and google translates OK, also gives me chance to brush up my very poor Russian which I have not used for 40 something years


Welcome! 

Actually, the second site comes in English version as well; sorry I didn't notice that in time:

http://www.hymn.ru/god-save-in-tchaikovsky/index-en.html

Also, the Peabody Orchestra site has updated their content completely for what I can tell, so there's bad news and good news: the old stuff, if you planned to download it, is gone, but there's some new stuff to listen to:

http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/pcorecordings

Enjoy!


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## Kopachris

I've downloaded a few symphonies off of that Peabody site already, but thanks for that 1classical place! To return the favor, here's Classic Cat. It's really only a catalog of places to get dloads, so quality may vary, but it does at least say who performed what. I've found most of my classical library through this, along with a few CDs ripped to flac.


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## Scirel

*I guess I gotta...*

post my blog site once in a while.

IMHO, it's the best collection of classical freebies on the WWW. I do try to maintain it.

Sites are sorted into "major finds" and "so-so"...

http://scirel.wordpress.com/


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## Guest

I realise it is a bit of bad form to bump ones own thread but we have a lot of new members that may have fresh links to free legal down loads here's hoping


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## Scirel

Yes, that would be nice, Andante. I still maintain my blog, but haven't gotten any new sites for quite some time...


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## Guest

Scirel, where have you been hiding??


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