Peabody Conservatory Concert Recordings

March 1, 2007 1:34 AM

The Peabody Symphony Orchestraand the Peabody Concert Orchestra have a wealth of classical recordings freely available for download - Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Haydn, Mahler, Borodin, Schumann, Stravinksy...
posted by algreer (11 comments total)

My first FPP, please be gentle.

I'll be surprised if it hasn't been mentioned in the blue before, but searching didn't turn it up as a double...
posted by algreer at 1:35 AM on March 1, 2007

That's a nice find. Thanks!
posted by jfuller at 3:01 AM on March 1, 2007

Good post, but I have an irresistable urge to say "Golly gee Mr. Peabody! Your orchestra sure plays good!" "Of course, Sherman, I used the Wayback Machine to help Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Haydn and Mahler write the stuff."
posted by wendell at 4:24 AM on March 1, 2007

Mahler for free -- this is gonna be good. algreer, TYVM; you've set yourself a high standard.
posted by pax digita at 6:05 AM on March 1, 2007

Great links. Thank you, algreer.

This is slightly old news, but Peabody has a new (as of '99; that's new in organ terms) pipe organ in an old hall that sounds tremendous. Unlike many church and cathedral organs, you hear very little of the room itself; it's like listening from inside the organ in comparison. Worth the trip to see a recital there.
posted by breezeway at 6:09 AM on March 1, 2007

Cool! Thanks.
posted by serazin at 8:40 AM on March 1, 2007

This is wonderful!

Thanks.
posted by winna at 11:14 AM on March 1, 2007

Oh man, I was just thinking of Peabody the other day, or more specifically wondering whatever happened to a couple musicians from my hometown who went there many moons ago.

I'll have to check this out more thoroughly when I'm at a different computer and have more time. (I keep forgetting to do that with these interesting MeFi-posted sites.)

Thanks.
posted by NorthernLite at 2:00 PM on March 1, 2007

Oooh thank you!

Can anyone with better knowledge of classical performance than myself comment on the quality of these? I don't mean the audio or compression quality, I mean of the performances themselves. Last year Lifehacker had an article about free classical music available at Wikipedia. One Lifehacker commented that "Its a good site for beginners, but before long you'll be craving the London or Chicago Symphony Orchestra rather then the Polish Youth orchestra." I didn't think this would really be an issue for me, since I am hardly an aficionado, but I did notice that the performance of Vivaldi's Four Seasons (which I think is by an orchestra at MIT) had a few noticeable flaws, specifically the first movement of "Winter" where the solo violin at the beginning seems to be moving faster than the rest of the strings. Plus there's a lot of coughing to be heard in the background, which is kind of annoying when you're listening with headphones.

But hey, free classical music, right?
posted by good in a vacuum at 3:17 PM on March 1, 2007

Oops, I should clarify: that would be the Vivaldi performance available at Wikipedia, not one at the Peabody site, if there is one.
posted by good in a vacuum at 3:20 PM on March 1, 2007

Check this out, good in a vacuum. There's a lake of ink spilled on the subject, and there are probably better resources, but that (particularly part 3) is a good start if you want to find the best recordings.
posted by breezeway at 3:59 PM on March 1, 2007