One of the most important archives of historic recordings has been unveiled by the Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music (CHARM) under the aegis of King’s College London. CHARM’s philosophy states that “even when music does exist as a written text, performers play an essential role in creating the experience that, for most people, is the music. CHARM was established to promote a musicology that better reflects the nature of music as experienced in the 20th century and beyond.” If you’re a fan of Robert Philip’s two superb books, Early Recordings and Musical Style: Changing Tastes in Instrumental Performance 1900-1950 (Cambridge University Press: 1992) and Performing Music in the Age of Recording (Yale University Press: 2004) which explore the changes in performance practice, then this is the site for you.

As part of CHARM’s aim, over 5000 sound files (largely of out-of-copyright recordings) have been made available to stream (MP3) or download (FLAC files) from the CHARM website (charm.rhul.ac.uk/index.html) free of charge. Many of the recordings fall into CHARM’s project “Musicians of Britain and Ireland, 1900-1950”, and offer a unique opportunity to experience changing performance practices in the first 50 years of recorded sound. For example, you can listen to William Byrd madrigals recorded by The English Singers in 1923, John Barbirolli and his Chamber Orchestra in Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro in 1929 or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle speaking about spiritualism in 1930. There’s even a thrilling recording of Mischa Spoliansky and the Julian Fuchs Symphony Orchestra playing Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue in 1927 (only three years after it was premiered) – and very wild it is too!

The streaming facility is a good one as it allows you the chance to sample before you download – the CHARM player takes a while to load so don’t expect it to start immediately. And because FLAC files are considerably bigger than MP3s, bear in mind that they take a long time to download – and of course not all players can cope with them so do read the useful guide on the site’s home page.

And while on the CHARM home page do check out some of the other links. There’s a short essay by David Patmore on “House Conductors”, those often very fine musicians who formed the backbone of the HMV and Columbia catalogues in the early years of recording, men like Joseph Batten, Piero Coppola, Lorenzo Malajoli, Landon Ronald and Bruno Seidler-Winkler. And you can follow the links through to read a longer biographical article about each and download their recordings. Thanks to producer Andrew Keener, who opened my ears to Piero Coppola’s Debussy many years ago, I’ve long admired this Italian maestro’s work in the French repertoire. You can catch him in Debussy’s First Nocturne (Nuages), Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole (with Henry Merckel) and Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain with Madame Van Barentzen. It’s wonderful to hear French musicians early in the last century playing their own music – long before a kind of “international” style took over and removed the idiosyncratic and very recognisable native French quality. Similarly, it’s fascinating to hear the work of Landon Ronald, the conductor to whom Sir Edward Elgar dedicated Falstaff and whom Fritz Kreisler rated as an ideal accompanist.

Another label has launched its own download site: the Montreal-based Analekta (analekta.com). As has become increasingly the norm with independent companies, you are offered MP3 files (192kBps) and two types of lossless FLAC files (44.1kHz, 16 bits, or the studio-quality 88.2kHz, 24 bits). And if you buy a recording in FLAC format you automatically also get the MP3 equivalent. Like the newly unveiled Hyperion site (a model of its kind), Analekta allows you to load your wallet to speed up later purchase and it also operates a kind of “frequent flyer” programme (once you’ve accumulated 100 points you’ll be credited with Canadian $10).

Analekta contains some treasures and provides a fine window onto French-Canadian musicians and music-making. My favourite recordings from its catalogue include a glorious disc of Brahms Lieder from Marie-Nicole Lemieux and Michael McMahon, a disc that links Scarlatti’s Salve regina with Vivaldi’s Stabat mater and some string concertos (Tafelmusik under Jeanne Lamon) and Angèle Dubeau’s excellent “Portrait” discs of Philip Glass and Arvo Pärt. You can sample all tracks (complete) before deciding whether to download them.
 
Pristine Classical continues to come up with treasure after treasure (pristineclassical.com). Having just finished a mammoth immersion in the music of Igor Stravinsky for this month’s cover CD interview with Esa-Pekka Salonen, I was delighted to see that Pierre Monteux’s January 1929 Paris recording of The Rite of Spring takes pride of place in a new collection that also includes Ravel’s La valse and “Le petit poucet” from Ma Mère l’Oye, Chabrier’s “Fête polonaise” from Le roi malgré lui and the Interlude dramatique by Piero Coppola (already mentioned above). The very fine transfers are by Mark Obert-Thorn.

Pristine, who are also doing a terrific job in transferring and remastering recordings from Gramophone’s own label, the National Gramophonic Society, have just made available the first ever recording of the Brahms Clarinet Quintet with Frederick Thurston and the Spencer Dyke Quartet, made in 1926. The sound, not surprisingly, is vintage but really rather good with that proviso. This is a wonderful glimpse of a performing style from years ago.

This month’s Essential Download List is devoted to the artistry of the late Philip Langridge. And the 10 albums reveal his range as much as his consummate musicianship and ability to achieve astounding levels of intensity.

The essential download playlist No 33 - Langridge

Birtwistle Punch and Judy Atherton (NMC) theclassicalshop.net, Passionato, NMC

Britten  Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings Bedford (Naxos) theclassicalshop.net, Passionato, ClassicsOnline, iTunes   

Britten  Death in Venice Hickox (Chandos) theclassicalshop.net, Passionato, ClassicsOnline, iTunes   
   
Britten  War Requiem Hickox (Chandos) theclassicalshop.net, Passionato, ClassicsOnline, iTunes   

Handel  Messiah Hickox (Chandos) theclassicalshop.net, Passionato, ClassicsOnline, iTunes
   
Janáček  Diary of One who Disappeared Abbado (DG) DG Webshop
   
Schoenberg  Moses und Aron Solti (Decca) DG Webshop

Schubert  Song Edition, Vol 4 Johnson (Hyperion) Hyperion, iTunes   

Tippett  King Priam Atherton (Chandos) theclassicalshop.net, Passionato, ClassicsOnline       

Vaughan Williams On Wenlock Edge Hickox (EMI) Passionato

James Jolly