After burning the midnight (rather, the 1-2 a.m. Eastern Time) oil several times, I think that I can definitely say that the YourClassical new freebie of the day always shows up between 1 a.m. to 2 a.m.
Today's
free MP3 download from them is a piece from an album that apparently includes both Tchaikovsky's
The Nutcracker (we seem not to get any of that) and a piece by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov called
Christmas Eve: Polonaise. The album cover states that Prunella Scales does the narration, but in context, it appears to be only speaking of
The Nutcracker portion.
In addition to some music, there is talking ("narration") on this 3 minute, 25 second piece, too. In fact, there seems to be almost more talking on this piece than there is music. I suppose that it is done by the aforementioned Prunella Scales. Personally, I could have done without that. If you're interested in exploring all of the in's and out's of the album, I suggest that you go to
Naxos' dedicated webpage for the album and have a look around.
Before I forget it, let me mention that the
free piece, at least is performed by the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra. Igor Golovschin is the conductor.
Stream the
free piece at
this webpage. Download it from
there, as well, by clicking on the "Direct MP3 download link."
With this being Friday's
freebie from YourClassical, we won't get another one from them until next Monday between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. For some reason, I get the idea that the free piece on that day won't be Christmasy like the ones that we've had the last several weeks . . . .
Goodnight.
Moved to correct thread ~ Editor