A recent survey of 3500 Gramophone readers revealed a lively interest in the “digital world” of classical music: 44 per cent download from the internet, 39.5 per cent stream music and 53.5 per cent own an MP3 player. My guess is that over the course of the next 12 months the number of people streaming music will increase. It’s definitely a growing trend to use streaming services like Spotify, the Naxos Music Library and Classical Archives, and I encounter more and more people who are happy to “own” the music just for the time it takes to play. Once upon a time I think I would have scoffed at the suggestion, but with shelves groaning under the weight of CDs, combined with a totally incurable desire to listen to more and more music (both the new and the totally familiar), I have come round to the notion. Opera-mad friends have become similarly obsessed with YouTube for unusual or rare performances that, once upon a time, would have circulated on cassette, VHS and more recently on recorded CD and DVD, but which now are routinely sent round as a link – which of course also speeds up the process!

Now that streaming has become a norm rather than a nice little gimmick to enhance websites, may I steer you towards the Gramophone Player if you’ve not explored it. As well as offering longer excerpts (usually a complete movement) of the 10 Editor’s Choice recordings each month, in addition to part of the DVD of the Month which you can watch on the Player, many of the magazine’s other features – such as The Collection – are now supported by substantial musical excerpts (Rob Cowan’s recent survey of the recordings of the Dvorák Cello Concerto, for example, is supported by performances featuring Angelica May, Pablo Casals and János Starker). But the feature I want to draw your attention to is the Archive Recording. Simply click on the “From the Archive” tab on the Player to access the ever-growing playlist of recordings we’ve had tracked down by Nick Morgan, whose passion for great performances from the past has turned up some gems. Last month we posted a very fine recording of the Liszt Sonata in B minor, made for HMV by the inimitable Shura Cherkassky, which sounds very impressive in this transfer. We’ve also Archiv recordings of Bach cantatas directed by Fritz Lehmann – despite all the developments in historically informed performance practice, these two interpretations (Cantatas Nos 39 and 105) speak with extraordinary power and poise. Another all-but-forgotten Archiv LP that the Player features is a collection of songs by Thomas Campian (or Campion), John Danyel and John Dowland sung with great subtlety by René Soames. And from the French pianist Ginette Doyen – by and large forgotten but in her time a very important musician in her native France, and wife of the violinist Jean Fournier – we’ve a programme of piano pieces by Chabrier and Saint-Saëns played with great style. All these recordings are free to listen to (the only thing you’ll need to do is register at gramophone.co.uk in order to access the Gramophone Player).

Talking of archive recordings, Pristine Classical (pristineclassical.com) has now developed a really appealing sense of community around its historic issues and reissues. Pristine’s founder Andrew Rose keeps up a lively blog, and each transfer has – in the style of a wine catalogue’s tasting notes – a short explanation of the challenges of remastering that particular original. And Pristine keeps coming up with great treasures. Having played the (stereo) Julius Katchen recording of Ernö von Dohnányi’s Variations on a Nursery Theme on my Radio 3 programme recently, I was interested to hear how Pristine had managed with the already impressive Decca sound (Kenneth Wilkinson engineering in Kingsway Hall in January 1959). Well, a splendid job has been done and the performance sounds considerably younger than its 51 years (the transfer was made from quarter-track stereo open-reel Ampex tape at 7.5 inches per second). The Nursery Variations is one of those works that has almost entirely disappeared from the repertoire (never heard in concert and increasingly rarely on disc): a real shame because it’s a charmer and delightfully witty. Sir Adrian Boult, tongue firmly in cheek, draws some terrific playing from the LPO, and Katchen is on quite magnificent form. What a sad loss to the piano world when he died in 1969, still in his early forties. The coupled Paganini Rhapsody by Rachmaninov is similarly glittering and 
fleet of finger.

As Sir Thomas Beecham is much in the mind this year (he died on March 8, 1961), it’s worth mentioning Pristine’s very fine transfer of his Brahms Second Symphony (Abbey Road, 1958) and Academic Festival Overture (Abbey Road, 1956) – both in stereo – with Delius’s North Country Sketches (a mono recording from 1949). William Mann, writing in Gramophone in July 1960, was admiring of the interpretation of the Brahms Second, believing it to be “a fine performance rather than one that makes me think anew about the music. Beecham finds the sunlight and the vivacity in the work; one senses the play of a brilliant interpretative mind upon great music”. I surrender to the Beecham magic nearly every time – as I think WSM did too.

If you crave fine broadcast sound, 
BBC Radio 3 has launched what it 
styles “HD Sound” from the BBC website 
(bbc.co.uk/radio3). If you choose to listen live over the web you will be treated to 320kbps sound which – provided you’re listening via a decent pair of speakers or headphones – is pretty good. It might also be an excuse to explore relaying your music wirelessly around your house/flat. I’ve mentioned Network Music Players on many occasions, but if you have pledged your allegiance to Apple you might like to explore the company’s latest wireless system, Airplay, which allows you to play audio and video from your Apple product (iPad, iPhones, iPod Touches) to compatible hardware that plays the software (Apple TVs as well as third-party kit that has signed up to this new system). It’s not a million miles away from Airport Express but it’ll soon come as standard – and of course you’ll be able to control it using your iPhone or iPad. And it’s good to know that reputable audio companies of the calibre of Denon, Marantz, Bowers & Wilkins, JBL and iHome will be adding the interface 
to their products. Here’s yet another step towards integrating your computing and entertainment worlds.

The Essential Download Playlist No 39: Percy Grainger

Choral works English Country Gardiner Orch / Gardiner (Philips) DG, iT, A, Am

The Warriors Philharmonia / Gardiner (DG) DG, iT, A, Am

Orchestral works incl Green Bushes BBC PO / Hickox (Chandos) CO, CS, A, Am

Orchestral works incl Molly on the Shore BBC PO / Hickox (Chandos) CO, CS, A, Am
   

Music for wind band RNCM Wind Orchestra / Rundell (Chandos) CO, CS, A, Am

Piano works for four hands Penelope Thwaites, John Lavender (Pearl) Am

Piano works Marc-André Hamelin (Hyperion) H, iT

Piano transcriptions Piers Lane (Hyperion) H, iT

Songs Della Jones; Penelope Thwaites et al (Chandos) CO, CS, A, Am

Grieg Piano Concerto Grainger; Kristiansand SO / Rolf Gupta (2L) iT   

A = Ariama, Am = Amazon, CO = Classics Online, CS = Classical Shop, DG = DG Webshop, H = Hyperion, iT = iTunes

James Jolly