classical music mp3 blog?

October 2, 2005 8:05 PM

Classical music mp3 blogs?

I hated, but miss, the musty comparative-recording fests that helped drive classical music off the American air. Despite this, I have found that I do have a real love for classical music. Are there any classical-music mp3 blogs that will slacken my jones and educate me without inducing snoring? If not, why not? I am particularly looking at the fetching and acerbic naxosaxur.

posted by mwhybark to media & arts (6 comments total)

Do you listen to any podcasts? There seem to be some pretty good classical music podcasts listed on iTunes, including one put out by Naxos called the "Naxos Classical Music Spotlight". Shows are about 20 minutes long, so it could be just the thing to whet your palate and make you go buy more Naxos recordings, but it could be worth checking out (I am subscribing as we speak). If you aren't iTunes inclined, naxos.com has podcast info on the main page. Good luck!
posted by rossination at 8:11 PM on October 2, 2005

Alex Ross's The Rest is Noise. He writes for the New Yorker, and probably some other things too.

Kyle Gann's PostClassic is fantastic, though Gann is absolutely possessed of Downtown post-avant sympathies. His net-radio is fantastically curated, though it all might be a bit too out there if you're mostly thinking Mozart.

Sequenza 21 is also nifty, though I don't read it often enough to determine the respective stylistic sympathies of the various authors. Gann often centers his monologues around some point of dispute with some of these characters.

Swell reading all around.
posted by hototogisu at 8:57 PM on October 2, 2005

Actually, in retrospect, I missed the mp3-focus of these. Gann and Ross definitely post mp3s and link to them, but that isn't really their primary focus. Oops!
posted by hototogisu at 8:59 PM on October 2, 2005

Not a blog but usenet has been a source of anal classical music lovers who post high quality and often rare recordings. Check out alt.binaries.sounds.lossless.classical and alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.classical. I get a lot of 1950s studio opera recordings I would never find anywhere else.
posted by geoff. at 10:05 PM on October 2, 2005

Sweet, gang! TYVM!
posted by mwhybark at 8:11 PM on October 5, 2005

hototogisu, Ross' blog is, erm, the shiznit (exceppt for tyhe dearth of free downloads, dang it.)! Much hysterical laughter has ensued.
posted by mwhybark at 8:22 PM on October 5, 2005