FREE/BARGAIN — Media Deals (non-eBook/non-audiobook)

[GtrsRGr8]

As Koland mentioned in an post yesterday, the regular Naxos newsletter was due out today. It did, in fact, arrive in my email inbox today.

I don't want to seem like I'm repeating myself over and over, but here are a couple of important matters. First, remember that the offer is near the bottom of the message. If your email client truncates messages, like mine unhelpfully does, untruncate (I know, that's not a real word, but you know what I mean) the message so that you can make sure to see the offer.

There's always a theme to the giveaways in the regular Naxos newsletter, and this one is no exception. The theme is "Oktoberfest":
Oktoberfest is the world's largest beer festival and travelling funfair. Held annually in Munich, it's a 16-day German folk festival that kicks off mid-September, attracting more than 6 million people from around the world. We invite you to imbibe some of the festival's celebratory atmosphere by taking advantage of our free offer this month of music by German composers to mark the event – from ground-breaking symphonies, to miniature dances, to a celebratory blend of opera seria and melodrama. Prost!

Briefly, here are your choices of albums:
Beck: 6 Symphonies, Op. 1
Beethoven: Bagatelles and Dances, Vol. 1
Mayr: II Sogno di Partenope [Cantata Opera]
Only one is free, although I'm sure that Naxos would be happy to sell you the other two, if you so desire. ha

If you are not yet a subscriber to this newsletter, sorry but you're not eligible to receive one of the free albums this time. You must be a subscriber in order to get the newsletter and be able to get one of the three choices of albums free.

[koland]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

If you are not yet a subscriber to this newsletter, sorry but you're not eligible to receive one of the free albums this time. You must be a subscriber in order to get the newsletter and be able to get one of the three choices of albums free.

I've had at least two notes on people that subscribed, then received the newsletter the next day and were able to get the free album of the month. Worst case, your free albums start next month.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by koland

I've had at least two notes on people that subscribed, then received the newsletter the next day and were able to get the free album of the month. Worst case, your free albums start next month.

Thanks. And my apologies for the misinformation.

I distinctly remember someone posting, without qualification, that new subscribers would not receive that month's freebie. I based what I said in my post upon that.

[GtrsRGr8]

Alexander Street has posted a new free music download. It is Claude Debussy's (and please forgive my failure to furnish the appropriate accents--I haven't learned how to do them yet in this program) Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune.

These classical music giveaways are starting to all run together in my head, but I think that all that you have to do to get the Alexander Street freebie is to navigate to this webpage. Then, click on the blue "Download" button. On the webpage that comes up, near the top of the page, there is a box with an aqua blue background with a link (in blue) for the song. Click on the link. The MP3 download will start automatically.

[GtrsRGr8]

It has been awhile since anyone posted any classical music on this thread and I'm sure that we're all yearning to get anything free--anything at all--in classical music!

You can get a free download of the first movement from Beethoven's Quartet in B-flat major, Op 18, courtesy of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

To do so, navigate to this webpage. You'll see the link, in a reddish-brown color, near the top of the page.

You can ignore the "Thanks for attending A Princely Collection hosted by The Student Producers at CMS." You can get the download regardless of whether or not you went to that event.

When you click on the reddish-brown link, the MP3 download will begin automatically. Easy peasy.

[GtrsRGr8]

I am soooo embarassed. Last August 2 was National Coloring Book Day, and I plum forgot all about it!

I just found out that the good people at Dover Publications offered a free mini coloring book in commemoration of this notable holiday. Thankfully, they have kept the free offer available since then. But, I am so ashamed that I did not find out about the offer in time for the Coloring Book Day, so that my post of it could be more timely.

Well, anyway, here is the webpage with the link to the coloring book. Note that the pages for coloring are oriented toward adults (although I suppose that kids could use them, too). Frankly, I don't understand the whole adult coloring book phenomenon thing; maybe it's good therapy or something. But, I don't have to understand it, I just want to be of service to those who do understand it, or even like it. Maybe I should try it myself, although I don't remember liking to color even when I was a child (I know that you will find this hard to believe, but I was a strange child).

Oh, as you might suspect, the pages are in PDF. They are contained in a zip file.

[GtrsRGr8]

At the end of last week, I passed along the discovery of another free classical music source. This one, YourClassical, offers a new piece every weekday.

I know that it's late in the day, but I'm going ahead and posting today's freebie. I will commit to posting the new ones every weekday, for the foreseeable future.

Today's free download is Camille Saint-Saens--Carnival of the Animals: The Swan. It is 3 mins., 36 secs. long. It is performed by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra with Ondrej Lenard as the conductor. There is a narrator, Johnny Morris, so I suppose that there is some narration at one or more times on the album, including perhaps on this piece. All of the daily freebies from YourClassical are MP3's.

Here is the download page. Look for the link that says "Direct MP3 download link." When you click on that link, the piece will automatically download itself to your hard drive.

[GtrsRGr8]

Today's free piece from YourClassical is from the album Music for Cello and Piano [I love both of those instruments!, G], by Schumann. Karine Georgian plays the piano and Jan Willem Nelieke plays the cello.

This piece is Adagio And Allegro, and is a nice 8 minutes, 28 seconds in playing time. As with all of these free daily downloads from YourClassical, it is in the MP3 format.

To find out any information that I didn't cover and/or to download the piece, navigate to this webpage. To download the piece, look for the "Direct MP3 download" link.

Enjoy! I know that I will!

[GtrsRGr8]

YourClassical's freebie of the day is up.

It is a 12 minute, 2 second MP3 piece, Edward Elgar--Cello Concerto: IV: Allegro. It is performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Maria Kliegel on the cello and Michael Halasz conducting.

Those are the basics. If you would like to know more, click on the link "Naxos 8.550503" on this webpage. To go ahead and download it, click on "Direct MP3 download link" on the same webpage.

[GtrsRGr8]

As I said recently, all of the free classical music offers are running together in my head (a nice problem to have, because that means we're getting a lot of good free stuff ). Frankly, I don't remember if we get this one every week, every two weeks, or every month. And if someone had asked me, I wouldn't have remembered what day of the week that it comes out!

Anyway, I know because I got an email message about it, that there's a new free download available from Classical-music.com--Nicole Car performs 'Tacea la notte placida' from Verdi's Il Trovatore (I do believe that I will have learned Italian by the time that I make a few more posts like these. Mama mia!).

This week's free download is from 'The Kiss', the debut album from Australian soprano Nicole Car. 'Tacea la notte placida' (The night was still and calm) is sung by Leonora as she confesses her love for troubadour Manrico. The recording was BBC Music Magazine Opera Choice in July.

'Nicole Car is the real thing, a properly lyric soprano who already has the vocal weight for the heavier 19th-century repertoire' writes Christopher Cook.

Linkage.

[GtrsRGr8]

I looked through all of my classical music posts for this month and noticed that, while I had downloaded it myself, I had forgotten to let you guys know about a free album from Naxos.

First, let me try to summarize the freebies-directly-from-Naxos situation as best as I can. You must be on both of their newsletters' mailing lists to receive the free album offers from each one. Notice that I said "newsletters," for there are two that are relevant:

1) There is a newsletter from "Naxos Music Group" in which you can get a free album each month. There is no choice of albums, it's just whatever they chose. This is the one this month that I forgot to tell you about. I'll tell you more about it, below.
2) There is a newsletter that comes from "Naxos Newsletter." This is the newsletter that offers you one album from three choices. I did inform you about that one this month.

All of the albums are in the high-quality flac format.

If you are on the newsletter that comes from "Naxos Music Group," make sure that you open your email from them and look over the free album to see if you are interested in downloading it.

Since I haven't told you about that free album yet, here is the scoop. It is J.L. Dussek's Piano Concertos, Opp. 22 and 49 / The Sufferings of the Queen of France (Staier, Concerto Koln).

Dussek worked as a composer and performer in London and wrote many works for the piano. He was a friend of the piano maker John Broadwood and persuaded him to add another octave to the instrument. Staier performs on such an instrument from 1806.

To make sure that you are on both of the pertinent newsletters' mailing lists, go to your profile page at Naxos. Make sure that in your "Email Preferences" that there is a tic in the boxes beside both the "New on Naxos Newsletter" (I think that it is tic'd by default) and "News from the Naxos Music Group." It wouldn't hurt to tic the box next to "Cost-saving offers, promotions and announcements" also.

[ngrant]

Link

I am already a member of Craftsy.com - not sure if this sale requires a (free) account to get access to the Great Courses sale. There should not be any affiliation codes in the link above but I did receive it in my member email and can't seem to access the sale through the Craftsy or Great Courses websites. I own and love the cooking courses on the Great Courses and these sale prices are very attractive compared with the usual sky-high levels. I cannot speak to the Gardening or Photography classes but the reviews are generally very favorable. Here's the list:

The Everyday Guide to Spirits & Cocktails: Tastes & Traditions $19.99
The Everyday Guide to Wine $34.99
How to Draw $ 69.99
The Everyday Gourmet: How to Master Outdoor Cooking $19.99
Fundamentals of Photography II $39.99
The Everyday Gourmet: Baking Pastries & Desserts $19.99
The Everyday Gourmet: Making Great Meals in Less Time $19.99
The Everyday Gourmet: Essential Secrets of Spices in Cooking $19.99
The Everyday Gourmet: The Joy of Mediterranean Cooking $24.99
The Art of Travel Photography: Six Expert Lessons $19.99
How to Grow Anything: Make Your Trees & Shrubs Thrive $19.99
How to Grow Anything: Food Gardening for Everyone $19.99
How to Grow Anything: Your Best Garden & Landscape $19.99
How to Grow Anything: Container Gardening Tips & Techniques $19.99
How Color Affects You: What Science Reveals $19.99
The Everyday Gourmet: Making Healthy Food Taste Great $19.99
The Everyday Guide to Wines of Italy $19.99
National Geographic Masters of Photography $39.99
The Everyday Gourmet: Rediscovering the Lost Art of Cooking $34.99
The Everyday Guide to Wines of California $19.99
The Everyday Guide to Wines of France $19.99
Fundamentals of Photography $39.99

[GtrsRGr8]

YourClassical's free download of the day (excludes Saturdays and Sundays ) is Hoffmeister Beethoven Duos for Violin and Cello. There are 3 duets, WoO 27: No. 2: I. Allegro affetuoso. John Mills is on the violin and Bozidar Vukotic is on the cello.

Let me mention that the source of these downloads is the well-respected company Naxos and, in addition to YourClassical, they should probably be thanked for supplying the pieces that YourClassical gives away.

To download today's freebie, navigate to this YourClassical webpage. Look for "Direct MP3 download link." Click on it. The download begins immediately.

Want to learn a little more about the piece before you download it? Click on the "Naxos 8.573541" link on the same webpage.

[GtrsRGr8]

The daily free download today from YourClassical is J.S. Bach's Jesu Christ! Je T'implore BWV 639, performed by Yale Cellos. Aldo Parisot is the conductor. It is just short of 3 minutes long.

I have listened to the piece, and I must say that it is beautiful. But we expect nothing less than that from Bach, don't we?

The direct MP3 download link is on this webpage. You can get much more information about the piece and the album that it comes from by pointing your web browser to here.

I have no idea if anyone ever downloads any of these daily freebies from YourClassical, but if you are one who does, remember that the next daily free download will be on Monday, since YourClassical does not offer them on the weekends.

[GtrsRGr8]

Coldplay has been a hot (no pun intended) band for a decade and a half.

Google Play currently has for only 99 cents, Coldplay's most recent album, according to information given in the Wikipedia article on Coldplay discography! In fact, it may be a double album--I don't quite understand the information in the relevant chart on Wikipedia. The album/double album is called A Head Full of Dreams, and was just released in 2015/2016.

Anyway, the album has at least two songs, it appears, that were/are modest hits in the U.S.--Adventures of a Lifetime and Hymn for the Weekend. These songs fared/fare modestly better in some other countries, including the U.K., France, Germany, Ireland, and Switzerland, than they did/do in the U.S.

Google Play has also posted about half a dozen other new (newly marked down) albums for 99 cents, but I didn't recognize any of the names of the artists or bands except for one.

If you notice anything in this post that needs correction or clarification, please make a post about it.