SHOPPING FOR CLASSICAL MUSIC

There is a clear distinction between shopping for commercial music and shopping for classical music, be it on the net or outside of it. For one thing, you will find fewer places to buy your classical music. For this reason, the net is a better place to buy classical music; it’s the only place where you will find thousands of recordings under one banner. www.classicalarchives.com boasts of holding over 34,000 recordings performed by over 2000 artists. They charge a modest 25$ a year as membership fees, which gives you access to their entire database of mp3s and MIDIs , their learning center and their radio station (which was nominated as the best radio station for classical music, 2004 by Live265). The website has a simple search by artist/music/composer or midi. They also host a video room.

Before you buy your classical music you may want to read review on the quality, and this you can do at www.classical.net, which has over 3500 reviews on CD/SACD/DVD and books. They have online LP record sales sometimes, and that is something anyone who calls himself a collector wouldn’t want to miss out on. The site is conveniently divided into Basic Repertoire List, CD buying guide, recommended classic CDs, Composers’ works and data, Reviews and articles, books and scores & Links to other websites. On opening the home page you immediately get what you want without hunting painstakingly for your category of interest.

www.essentialsofmusic.com is an impressive website where you can learn a lot on classical music just by listening to the various samples off classical music. SONY sponsors the site, and one can expect great site maintenance from these guys.

For anyone whose going the George Harrison way, no write up on Classical Music shopping can be complete without a mention of Pandit Ravi Shankar, the pro sitarist (the sitar is a string instrument) from India. Ravi Shankar’s music inspired the Beatles to train with him, and he influenced their music to a strong extent, for a period in their history. You can buy the Pundit’s music on www.amazon.com..You can see his website at www.ravishankar.org. His daughter Anoushka has been making waves in the US last couple of years, and its interesting to think of how her modern music could have been influenced by her father’s pure classical approach.

Finally a note on the bargains for the cash conscious. You have to check out www.cheap-cds.com !! Very basic, no frills website. Basic home page, in black and white. They offer low prices because they can do so, thanks to what they make in volume of sales. The site promises same day shipping dispatch.