Welcome to our free classical music site
Do you write about classical music? Are you a blogger? Want to team up with Classical Connect? Send us a message, let's talk!
Do you write about classical music? Are you a blogger? Want to team up with Classical Connect? Send us a message, let's talk!
April 13, 2009
We have a special treat this week in memory of the great Georgian singer, Zurab Andjaparidze, who was the leading tenor of the Bolshoi Opera in the 1960s. He was not as widely known in the West, but opera lovers around the world consider him one of the most important artists in the history of opera. Dubbed the "Soviet Franco Corelli" by the Italian press, his vast repertory encompassed the Russian classics (he was hailed as one of the best Hermanns), Italian operas (from Radames to Otello), and Georgian national operas. You may read more about this wonderful singer here. You can listen to some samples of Zurab Andjaparidze’s rare recordings here. There are many more recordings in our library, so go ahead and enjoy the art and voice of Zurab Andjaparidze.
April 6, 2009
This week, we would like to showcase the exceptional talents of violinist Rachel Barton Pine – and also highlight the unique benefits of listening to classical music on the Internet. Click here and listen to Barton Pine play Brahms' Violin Concerto – not just one, but two versions of it! The first one, with the more traditional Joachim cadenza at the end of the first movement, and the second – Rachel's own. The cadenza starts 19 minutes 11 seconds into the performance. You can set the player at exactly that point to compare, or listen to the whole concerto from start to finish. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Carlos Kalmar partner with Rachel in this wonderful performance, which was provided to us by Cedille Records.
Site Update: E-mail music to your friends!
You may have noticed that we have added the Play button to the performance Details page (that's the one that shows up when you click on the Details button on the Player or the title of the piece when search/browse results are displayed). You may not need to use this button if you’re already browsing the site. However, if you send the URL of this page to your friends by e-mail, it should help them listen to the performance. All they would need to do is either click on the link or paste the URL into their browser and click on Play. This will activate the Player and start the music you sent them. Try it!
March 30, 2009
Tim Pack is a composer and pianist from Oregon. He’s also a scholar in Renaissance music (his motet, Amicus Fidelis, shows some influence of this on his own music). Tim has uploaded a number of his compositions and provided interesting notes. You can listen to Tim Pack’s music here.
March 20, 2009
This week we feature the Atrium Quartet, a young ensemble originally from Saint Petersburg, Russia. The quartet was founded in 2000 but now resides in Berlin. They recently visited Chicago and played Prokofiev's String Quartet No. 2 and Schubert’s Quartettsatz. We think the freshness, precision and vigor of their playing makes them one of the more interesting new quartets around. To listen to Atrium now, please click here.
March 13, 2009
Baritone Thomas Meglioranza has a voice big enough to fill an opera house, but he's equally at ease in a chamber setting. His rendition of Schubert's songs is intelligent, his diction clear. We would like you to sample some of them. We especially like the elegance of An die Laute and the warmth of Das Lied im Grünen. This selection was recorded in Concert in Chicago in October of 2004. Thomas is accompanied by a very sensitive Reiko Uchida. Click here to listen now.