# Best online music resources?



## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

Naxos Music Online. Instant access to most classical music ever recorded. Free for university students, but not for alumni... and $300/year subscription isn't cheap 

Grove Music Online. Possibly the best single music history resource in existence, but same availability problems as Naxos.

IMSLP, no explanation needed.

Opera in Video. I think this is the best online opera resource, since it provides online videos of some of the greatest performances of most of the opera repertory, with subtitles. Naxos Online really doesn't cut it for opera, since it has no video and there's that annoying pause between tracks. I'm not sure if individuals can get subscriptions though.


Any others you'd like to share, and why?


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## itywltmt (May 29, 2011)

My 2 cents:
http://www.talkclassical.com/blogs/itywltmt/200-how-do-you-get.html

I personally subscribe to eMusic - for under CDN$25 a month, I get 50 tracks (I believe the nominal cost is 49 cents per, and comes out to a shade less on my plan). The selection is pretty good.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

I actually rate Spotify extremely highly. I made the move to becoming a subscriber a few months ago and I love it. It's like living in a library and being able to take out however much of whatever I want whenever I want and for as long as I want. So what if I have to take it back eventually?


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## Rasa (Apr 23, 2009)

Choral wiki as a supplement to imslp


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

Polednice said:


> I actually rate Spotify extremely highly. I made the move to becoming a subscriber a few months ago and I love it. It's like living in a library and being able to take out however much of whatever I want whenever I want and for as long as I want. So what if I have to take it back eventually?


Is there a fee? How good is the selection?


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Ravellian said:


> Is there a fee? How good is the selection?


In the UK, there is a fee of £9.99 per month for unlimited access on computer and mobile, including offline. In some countries, you can listen for free, but there is a cap to the amount you can listen to (there are also adverts in between tracks, but you can avoid those if you know what you're doing...).

I think the selection is _amazing_. I would say that it is at least as good as the Naxos Music Library in terms of scope and selection. If ever I am looking for a particular _piece_, I am almost always spoilt for choice, and if I'm looking for a particular _recording_, I can usually find it. Even with contemporary-classical released very recently, I can find it on Spotify, which I think is pleasantly surprising.


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

Naxos has two subscription services - naxos.com and the Naxos Music Library. Naxos.com has considerably fewer CDs but only costs US$20 per year. I originally subscribed to naxos.com and was thrilled at the selection. I used it for perhaps a couple of years and then switched to the Naxos Music Library. I consider my subscriptions to Naxos to be by far my the best investment in music. 

I have looked at Spotify, but I still know very little about it. The price is roughly the same as Naxos Library. Naxos does not all labels. They have an incredible selection, but that selection is constrained to the labels they carry. So while it's rare (except for contemporary works) that I can't find a piece on Naxos, I won't be able to find it on most higher price labels. That means relatively few recordings have big name performers. Does anyone have a sense of whether Spotify has as good a selection or a better selection than Naxos?

Speaking of music resources, is there any site (or set of sites) that have many analyses of works? I would love to know that for an average work there is a reasonable chance that I could find an analysis (even somewhat simplistic) of the music. I'm not referring to something like liner notes but rather to a more in depth understanding of what the music is doing.


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

I'd add recmusic.org/lieder _Lots_ of vocal music (solo and choral) texts and translations. No opera libretti, but still extremely useful


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## Webernite (Sep 4, 2010)

Ravellian said:


> Naxos Music Online. Instant access to most classical music ever recorded. Free for university students, but not for alumni... and $300/year subscription isn't cheap


If you delete Cookies, you can use the free fifteen minute trial as many times as you like.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

mmsbls said:


> I have looked at Spotify, but I still know very little about it. The price is roughly the same as Naxos Library. Naxos does not all labels. They have an incredible selection, but that selection is constrained to the labels they carry. So while it's rare (except for contemporary works) that I can't find a piece on Naxos, I won't be able to find it on most higher price labels. That means relatively few recordings have big name performers. Does anyone have a sense of whether Spotify has as good a selection or a better selection than Naxos?


The main difference between them is that Spotify is not constrained by specific labels, which, along with the fact that Spotify has a great amount of what Naxos has, means you have access to a LOT of DG for one thing which oughtn't be missed! I do believe that Spotify has a superior selection.


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## itywltmt (May 29, 2011)

mmsbls said:


> Speaking of music resources, is there any site (or set of sites) that have many analyses of works? I would love to know that for an average work there is a reasonable chance that I could find an analysis (even somewhat simplistic) of the music. I'm not referring to something like liner notes but rather to a more in depth understanding of what the music is doing.


Depends what you mean by _analysis _- contextual info or down and dirty in-depth score study. I go for the former (though I`ve seen some on the latter). Wikipedia (How dare I go there...) has some surprising stuff at times... One resource, powered by the All Music Guide (AMG) is Classical Archives.


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

Polednice said:


> The main difference between them is that Spotify is not constrained by specific labels, which, along with the fact that Spotify has a great amount of what Naxos has, means you have access to a LOT of DG for one thing which oughtn't be missed! I do believe that Spotify has a superior selection.


I've come to like and be comfortable with Naxos, but I'll probably look more into Spotify. One thing I like about Naxos is their focus on recording new and minor composers. I hope they are actually making reasonable money on those recordings so they continue making them.


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

My youtube channel.


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## andydoe (Oct 10, 2011)

Ravellian,

Naxos offers quite a few subscription services, including one that does video.

www.NaxosMusicLibrary.com is our premium service, aimed primarily at professional users and institutions, with (as of today) about 867,000 classical tracks including Naxos, EMI, and almost all independent classical labels.

www.ClassicsOnline.com is our consumer version, which offers a similar amount of music at a lower price, but without some of the features more tailored to our institutional customers, like usage reports and shared playlists. You might find this better value.

www.NaxosVideoLibrary.com is our video library service, where subscribers can watch more than 1300 videos including operas and music documentaries. This is currently only available to institutional customers, but we support remote access, so do ask your local library to subscribe.

www.Naxos.com is our label website, where you can subscribe to listen to the entire Naxos catalog for $19.95 a year. This gives you a single good performance of just about every major classical work.

www.NaxosRadio.com offers 60 channels of streaming radio for $19.95 a year.

I hope this helps.

-Andy Doe, Chief Operating Officer, Naxos


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

andydoe said:


> Ravellian,
> 
> Naxos offers quite a few subscription services, including one that does video.
> 
> ...


Hello Mr COO

Thanks for dropping by. Naxos is a one of my favourite labels. I have many Naxos CDs.

How about discounted subscription for us loyal folks here at Talk-Classical?

Yours truely,
HarpsichordConcerto, Naxos fan. :tiphat:


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Folks, drum up support for discounted subscription, to show Mr COO above. All you need to do, is simply click the "like" and Mr COO will realised how much we prefer to pay for discounted subscription as we are loyal Naxos customers.


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## itywltmt (May 29, 2011)

I did it - it can't hurt, and, Mr. COO, we all have lots of NAXOS hard and soft media in our personal libraries because your retinue of labels provides such a high quality/price ratio!


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Mr. COO, I already have a subscription through my university, so if you could instead send me free stuff, that'd be lovely.


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## andydoe (Oct 10, 2011)

I'll see what we can do about a discount for you all. Stay tuned.


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## ClassicalMusicEducation (Nov 23, 2011)

Hi Everybody,

I'm brand new to this site. I found it on google while searching for online classical music resources.

I've just launched a new site for classical music education and was thinking about incorporating Naxos' Music Library into it. It's been great reading your posts about the site. Naxos seems to be preferred here over Spotify.

In addition to the suggestions above, I personally enjoy streaming radio from online classical stations. These are my three favorites:

Classical KUSC: http://www.classicalkusc.org/stream/listen.html
BBC 3: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/bbc_radio_three
WGBH: http://www.wgbh.org/includes/playerPopStream.cfm?station=objAllClassical

Of course I also recommend my new site Classical Music Education.com. There are all sorts of resources for learning classical music, interviews, a shop and more. I definitely want to add some of your suggestions to my Resources page.

Musically Yours,

K. Lendi
ClassicalMusicEducation.com


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## Oskaar (Mar 17, 2011)

Spotify is obvious. Extreeme selection. If you are so lucky that you live in a country where it is avayable, I would go for premium! Half price option(at least in Norway) is limited by no mobile support, and only normal speed (I dont herar the difference).

http://www.classicalarchives.com
This is a very well organized sight. I use it as a base for my database ( I am regeistrating works. Spotify is like a candystor without limits, so I have to try to organize my listening a bit). They us Allmusic as a source to comment composers and works. The sight is highly recommended! The best source sight along with wikipedia and IMSLP

http://www.musicweb-international.com
Thousends of rewiews!

http://www.classicstoday.com/
Also thousens of rewiews. Nice searching parameters.


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## Oskaar (Mar 17, 2011)

Spotify still use an invitation system if you want the free vertion. (Eccept the time limited version) I am a premium member, and I get two invitations to give away each month. I think I have 20 unused invitations right now, so if you want one (and live in a spotify country) just send me a pm with an e-mail adress


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## Oskaar (Mar 17, 2011)

mmsbls said:


> Does anyone have a sense of whether Spotify has as good a selection or a better selection than Naxos?


I dont know about naxos. But I know spotify, and they carry almost always the big names, the big recordings as I get recommended in here, or on other sights. Spotify is owned by several big record companies. If they dont have it, it is because some part implicated dont want it on streaming media. One example: (I skip the old bad sounding recordings) *Schumann: 3 Phantasiestücke, for clarinet and piano, Op.73* 50 recordings!


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