Linn Records, which for the past five years has been issuing Studio Master downloads through its website, has struck up a partnership with Universal Music to distribute the company’s back catalogue and current titles in the high-quality digital format.

Through the new arrangement Universal will become the first classical major in the UK to make its albums available as downloads in Studio Master quality. Recordings from the likes of Georg Solti, Sir Neville Marriner, Sir Colin Davis, Herbert von Karajan and Lorin Maazel on Universal’s Deutsche Grammophon and Decca labels will be amongst the first titles to be made available.

‘It’s a red letter day for music aficionados – most of whom never fell for the MP3’s compressed charms and stuck to the trusted CD,’ said Universal director of Classical Catalogue Barry Holden. ‘Today’s agreement with Linn marries legendary recordings to a download format offering demonstration sound, superior even to the CD. That’s good news for audiophiles, artists and the future of digital music.’

The first batch of recordings will include Solti’s recording of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a 27-year-old Lorin Maazel conducting Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, and the premiere recording of Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes, conducted by the composer and featuring tenor Peter Pears.