Andante (Internet Music Resource)
2004; Music Library Association; Volume: 60; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1534-150X
Autores Tópico(s)Diverse Musicological Studies
ResumoFor information regarding the scope of this column, consult the headnote in the September 2003 issue (p. 234 of this volume). Andante (Internet music resource). Andante Corp. http://www.andante .com (accessed 3 March 2004). [Requires RealAudio or Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer versions 5.0 and higher or Netscape Navigator version 6.2 and higher. Pricing for group licenses: 2-5 simultaneous users $400/year; 11-19 simultaneous users $1000/year; more than 19 negotiated individually.] Among the many thousands of classical music sites now found on the Web, Andante.com is one of the busiest-looking sites. Unlike many active sites, there is a lot behind this one. An article by Allan Kozinn in the New York Times (28 August 2001) traced the history of this particular site from the founding of the Andante compact disc label by French lawyer Alain Coblence to the launch of its Web site, Andante.com, in April 2001. In Coblence's words, Our mission is to provide access to knowledge about music, both for music lovers who are not well versed and who need basic references and for sophisticated listeners, musicians, professionals, musicologists and universities. We wanted to compile exclusive resources that were deep and complex. Andante's site has at its heart the Musicroom, in which one may lind an increasingly large catalog of complete musical performances available for streaming. What sets this catalog of performances apart from other streaming sites, such as Naxos (www.naxos.com [accessed 3 March 2004]) and the Classical Mvisic Library (www.classical.com [accessed 2 March 2004]), is that many of these performances are either historical performances from the archives of Andante's partner ensembles and festivals or recent live performances. Originally this list of distinguished partners included the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Concertgebouworkest, the Salzburger Festspiel, the Wiener Philharmoniker, and Wigmore Hall. This past November the list grew to include its first record label, the French label Naive. Naive also took over operation of the Web site and production of the Andante brand compact discs. Other recently added partners include the Bayerische Staatsoper, Speculum Musicae, and the Handel and Haydn Society. Another feature of the Musicroorn is the availability of a number of audio documentaries, lectures, and interviews. Among them are Sir Thomas Beecham Remembered, Otto Klemperer Remembered, and Arturo Toscanini Remembered. When first choosing either a Web radio broadcast or a selection from the Musicroom, users are offered the choice of selecting RealOne Player or Windows Media Player as their default plug-in. The bit rate is 96.5 Kbps SureStream (or above). Andante notes that some of the older files may be at a lower bit rate, but they are upgrading them as they find them. By their reckoning, the Musicroom currently contains over six hundred hours of listening that includes between one thousand and two thousand musical works, depending upon how you count. The repertoire includes a sampling of material from baroque, classical, and romantic to modern works, with the only noticeable gap being early music (although with the addition of the Naive label to their partnerships, this may soon change). Looking at the catalog as a whole, it is still a bit thin in the core repertoire of classical music with the major composers represented by only a smattering of works. Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart are represented by twenty-one, fifty-two, and seventy-three recordings respectively. This is perhaps balanced by the pedigree of performers such as Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Glenn Gould, Nathan Milstein, Wilhelm Furtwangler, George Szell, Emanuel Ax, Herbert von Karajan, and Eugene Ormandy. The repertoire includes songs, symphonic works, concertos, chamber music, and even a few complete oratorios and operas (notable among them two complete Don Giovanni recordings and a complete 1950 recording of Tristan und Isolde from the Bayerische Staatsoper under Hans Knappertsbusch). …
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