# Does anyone use classic-online.ru?



## Samuel Kristopher (Nov 4, 2015)

If you can get passed the cyrillic alphabet, this website is quite fantastic. A vast online compendium of composers and performers - if there's a recording of a work, it's probably on here. For the more popular works, they also have sheet music. I guess it's a bit like ISMLP, except the focus isn't sheet music, but having as complete a collection of classical music as possible for people to stream.

What I like is that they have two indexes - composers, and performers. If the cyrillic is really too much - search your composer/performer on Wikipedia and change the language to Russian (Русский) and find the name there.









Interesting? Or is it just me?


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

.................. deleted, sorry. My information concerning legality and copyright issues is maybe outdated.


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## Antiquarian (Apr 29, 2014)

It sounds interesting, but I am always wary about sites that stream performances that are "free". I guess I'm afraid that my computer will cough on some Russian virus, or that it may be an avenue for some kind of scam. If there is a download feature, there is a possibility that you may download more than you have bargained for (memories of the whole Pirate Bay torrent fiasco comes to mind), and so on. So just speaking for myself, thanks, but no thanks.


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## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

I used to use one of these about 8 years ago. It had probably thousands of copies of CD's online and had free streaming. It was in Russia but I believe had an English flag you could click on to get translations.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

regenmusic said:


> I used to use one of these about 8 years ago. It had probably thousands of copies of CD's online and had free streaming. It was in Russia but I believe had an English flag you could click on to get translations.


And a computer full off spam and infection?


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## Samuel Kristopher (Nov 4, 2015)

I've used Classic-Online for 3 years - I don't even have anti-virus software on this particular PC and I've never had a single issue. It's a very stable site and constantly updated. Russians are very dedicated to their classical music and this just happens to be one of the best sites for listening to performances out there. There's also a very active forum much like this one as part of the site, but it's all in Russian so I just assumed it's not that relevant to most of you 

As for legality, I can't say for sure. I don't want to start a controversial topic about copyright issues but my belief is that there is nothing wrong with sampling music for free and purchasing the music you enjoy and support. I always buy performances and music that I enjoy and want to support. I don't feel guilty about not wanting to spend $20 on a CD that I might hate.


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

We've had the same kind of exchange recently in the non-classical music department.

http://www.talkclassical.com/43572-music-download-sites-pros.html

I checked the website: music-online.ru seems to operate under the same jurisdiction as the download sites I investigated earlier namely Russian (or Ukranian) copyright law.

So I spent some time in investigating into this kind of subject matter but soon it turned out to be too complex to come to a sound conclusion about the legality if you're not a lawyer specialized in international copyright law.

So if anybody knows a lawyer that would want to share his knowledge on this it would be very welcome. From a more practical standpoint it would of course not seem very likely that sites that offer free sharing of music are fair to composers, performers etc.


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## Samuel Kristopher (Nov 4, 2015)

> From a more practical standpoint it would of course not seem very likely that sites that offer free sharing of music are fair to composers, performers etc.


Not directly, I guess. I think these sites should have links to a place where you can purchase the music/videos. They are beneficial in the sense that this tool exposes listeners to many artists and performances that one mightn't have heard of before, and I've often found new favourite interpretations from lesser known performers whose works I've gone on to buy instead of the usual standard.

That's why I like this site as a conscientious user. It's just a shame that there are a lot of people who don't care enough to buy the music that they like.


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## mariek (Feb 13, 2020)

dear Samuel, yes I love classical-online.ru. One can have a listen to the music. And the Cyrillic never used to be a problem because it was possible to translate into English the names and the titles of the pieces. When acquainted with unknown pieces or composers, one can search to purchase the sheet music. It is wonderful for beginning students like myself, and I like the serious approach. Cordially, Mariek


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