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

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by Catlady

<snip>
A family member is a Deadhead and not very computer savvy, so every year I have to download this material and burn to discs. I only listen for the few seconds it takes to check the quality of the discs, then immediately go back to my beloved Sinatra songs.

Not much of a fan of Frank. But I do like some of Nancy Sinatra's stuff. I wonder why she got out of the music performing business?

Mom & Dad weren't much for music. But they did have a Nancy Sinatra album among a few others. It got a lot of listens from me, at least, and maybe my sister, I dunno.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Not much of a fan of Frank. But I do like some of Nancy Sinatra's stuff. I wonder why she got out of the music performing business?

Mom & Dad weren't much for music. But they did have a Nancy Sinatra album among a few others. It got a lot of listens from me, at least, and maybe my sister, I dunno.

Not directly related to your question, but the music business is really rough. I follow a number of artists from the very successful to indie bands. Texas is known as one of the friendlier music places, but even here, fewer restaurants/venues hire live bands. The other day a relatively successful steel guitar player posted what a band makes for playing (about 450 a night or 100 dollars per band member, per night). And most places only have bands Friday and Sat. That's not much money to go around. More in line with your question, by following these bands I see far too many posts about those trying to recover from alcohol or drug abuse, be it family members, band members or other artists the band members worked with in the past. Not saying Nancy had any of these problems, but I'd guess even at a huge level of success you have friends trying to make it or those around those who have made it who have a lot of challenges. Maybe she just hated the atmosphere....it just seems to me to be a rough way of life with a lot of creativity, but a lot of heartbreak too.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Not directly related to your question, but the music business is really rough. I follow a number of artists from the very successful to indie bands. Texas is known as one of the friendlier music places, but even here, fewer restaurants/venues hire live bands. The other day a relatively successful steel guitar player posted what a band makes for playing (about 450 a night or 100 dollars per band member, per night). And most places only have bands Friday and Sat. That's not much money to go around. More in line with your question, by following these bands I see far too many posts about those trying to recover from alcohol or drug abuse, be it family members, band members or other artists the band members worked with in the past. Not saying Nancy had any of these problems, but I'd guess even at a huge level of success you have friends trying to make it or those around those who have made it who have a lot of challenges. Maybe she just hated the atmosphere....it just seems to me to be a rough way of life with a lot of creativity, but a lot of heartbreak too.

It's too bad, because she was/is a great talent. Unfortunately, anyone younger than about 55 probably never has heard her name, much less her music.

[GtrsRGr8]

We get today's YourClassical freebie from Naxos' album Bach - Tre Corali, Sonata in E Minor, et al., from their Seattle Symphony Collection. Gerard Schwarz is the conductor.

The piece that we are privileged to get free is the 5 minute, 45 second J.S. Bach's Fugue in D Minor, BWV 532. I found this to be a very enjoyable piece, but I know that all of us have different tastes. I found a webpage at Naxos with reviews of the entire album. Perhaps there are some comments there, also, on this particular piece.

If you would like to know much more about the entire album from which the free piece is taken, navigate to this webpage (I'm sure that Naxos supplies these freebies to various organizations out of more than the "goodness of their heart"--they are hoping that by letting people listen to, and have, these free pieces that they will sell more of the albums from which they come. Fair enough.)

If you wish to download the freebie, head over to this webpage, find the "Direct MP3 download link" and click on it.

Enjoy.

[GtrsRGr8]

Here's today's freebie from YourClassical!

It's Carl Nielsen's Symphony No. 1: Finale.

I don't think that we've had a free Nielsen piece offered by YourClassical since I began posting their freebies several months ago, so this is a treat.

This 8 minute, 49 second piece is performed by the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, with Michael Schonwandt conducting.

The piece is taken from an album published by Naxos, called Nielsen - Symphony No. 1 - Symphony No. 6 "Sinfonia semplice'. Find out lots of general information about the album at this webpage. Naxos has also provided a nice webpage of reviews at this webpage for the entire album.

The "Direct MP3 download link" is on this webpage.

I neglect to mention this when I make posts from YourClassical, but you do not have to have an account when downloading YourClassical freebies. Nice, YourClassical. Thanks!

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Last Day -- Amazon Prime Photos Promotion -- exp 31 Oct @ 11:59 PM PT

Amazon Prime Exclusive Offer

• $20 Credit in Computers & Tablets
  
• $30 Credit in Cameras
  
• $10 Credit in Software

Check your email for the codes. I received mine today.

[GtrsRGr8]

Today, YourClassical's free offering is a 10 minute piece from Felix Mendelssohn, called The Fair Melusine.

It comes from an album published by the label BIS, which includes A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Hebrides. BIS is apparently a label of Naxos, because when you click on the link for information on the YourClassical webpage for today's freebie, you get a Naxos webpage stating that BIS is the label for the album. Regardless of label, I'm sure that the album is top-quality; after having listened to it, I know that the free piece from it sounds that way. Naxos provides a dedicated webpage of reviews for the album, but the information given is extremely sparse and there is nothing about the particular piece from the album that we are being offered today.

The free piece, as well as the entire album, is performed by the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. Thomas Dausgaard is the conductor.

This freebie, as all YourClassical giveaways have been, is in the MP3 format. There is a "Direct MP3 download link" on this webpage.

[GtrsRGr8]

There are two newsletters that you can receive from Naxos from which you can get free albums. With one, you are offered one album only--take-it-or-leave-it. You do not have to be a subscriber to their newsletter in order to receive this one, but you may be required to have an account with Naxos and to sign in before you can get your freebie (I've forgotten now).

The other Naxos offer is one for subscribers to the newsletter. With it you are offered one entire free album, from a choice of three. If you are a subscriber to their newsletter, you should have in your inbox by now the newsletter that tells about this latest free offer.

I don't remember seeing this before, but in this newsletter there is a prominent dark orange button near the top of the page which says, "download one of this month's free albums" (previously, I think that a download button appeared only at the very bottom of the page beyond where my email client truncated the message. The upshot: I missed out on a lot of free albums.)

One characteristic of this Naxos deal is that the albums that are offered all center around a theme of some kind. The U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving is this month, and Klaus Heymann of Naxos states, "this month we offer subscribers a choice between three discs [they may be published as discs, also, but we get downloads, G] carrying a variety of threads for giving thanks . . . ."

After you click on one of those orange buttons that I mentioned earlier, you will find these three choices available to you:
Vivaldi: The 4 Seasons / Violin Concertos, Op. 8, Nos. 5-6.
Beethoven: String Quartets, Op. 132 and Hess 34.
Hildegard Von Bingen: Celestial Harmonies - Responsories and Antiphons.

Of course, this page will also give much more information about each album, including listing every track on them. As always, the downloads are in the high-quality flac format.

The offer is good until Dec. 9, which is at or near the date that Naxos will be offering another deal of this kind.

Now I've got some listening to do, in order to determine which one of these free albums that I'm going to take . . . .

[GtrsRGr8]

It's Monday, and that means another consecutive 5 days of free classical pieces from YourClassical!

The week begins with a free, lively, 4 minute 11 second, Johannes Brahms piece, Piano Quartet No. 3. Scherzo. It comes from a just-published (this month) Naxos album of Brahms Piano Quartets No.s 1 and 3. Pieces on the album are performed by Anton Barakhovsky (violin); Alexander Zemtsov (viola); Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt (cello); and Eldar Nebolsin (piano).

Find out more general information about the entire album here. There is a webpage for reviews of the album set up by Naxos, but owing to the very recent release of the album there is but one review at the present moment.

Think that you might want to download the piece? As always, there is a way to stream the piece, before "buying," at the piece's dedicated webpage. To download the free MP3, head to the same webpage and click on the "Direct MP3 download link."

[GtrsRGr8]

Classical-music.com's free download for the week has been posted on their website.

This week, in honour of Remembrance day, our free download is They are at rest by Edward Elgar, performed by Clare College Choir and conducted by Graham Ross. It comes from the choir's latest recording Remembrance - a wide-ranging and moving sequence of music for Remembrance, including Maurice Durufle's 1948 setting of the Requiem Mass.

I am not familiar with a holiday or other special day called "Remembrance Day," but it is apparently connected somehow with Roman Catholicism.

The free piece is 3 minutes, 47 seconds in length, and is formatted in MP3.

You do have to have an account at Classical-music.com to download their freebies, but you can set one up just prior to doing that. To download, make sure that you are logged in, then click on the red "download now" button that sits on top of the thumbnail image of the album cover, located on this webpage. The piece automatically downloads to the default drive on your computer.

[rxmom03]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_Day

It would be similar to Memorial Day in the US.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by rxmom03

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_Day

It would be similar to Memorial Day in the US.

Thanks. I may have been off base suggesting that it was somehow connected with the Roman Catholic Church. They do have an All Souls Day in the first of November, to remember family members and maybe others. The choir music may, in part, have thrown me off. The Roman Catholic Church is certainly not the only church which has choirs. I read that Clare College's choir did the singing. Clare College in a college of Cambridge University, which would make you think "Anglican." However, I did a little reading and noticed that the College had been around long before Henry VIII's reign, when he declared himself (or had himself appointed, I don't remember, and it really makes no difference I suppose--the outcome was the same) head of the Catholic Church in England (Great Britian?), effectively creating the Anglican Church.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Thanks. I may have been off base suggesting that it was somehow connected with the Roman Catholic Church. They do have an All Souls Day in the first of November, to remember family members and maybe others.

All Souls Day is November 2; November 1 is All Saints Day. Hence October 31 is Halloween, or All Hallows, i.e. Holy Ones, Eve.

[GtrsRGr8]

Today's freebie from YourClassical is Clarinet Quartet No. 1 by Ernesto Cavallini.

It comes from an album called Il Clarinetto tra Ottocento e Novecento dal solo al quartetto (The Clarinet in the 19th and 20th Centuries). That album is published by a publisher called Tactus, which I think is probably a Naxos company. You can find lots of general information about the album here. I was unable to find a dedicated webpage at Naxos of reviews for either the piece or the entire album.

The 3 minute, 49 second piece is performed by the Stark Quartet. As we have come to expect from YourClassical freebies, it is formatted in MP3.

You can stream the free piece, and/or download it at this webpage. To download it, click on the "Direct MP3 download link" on this webpage.

[GtrsRGr8]

Naxos has an album of [Ralph] Vaughn Williams' compositions called The Lark Ascending - Suite of Six Short Pieces, The Solent, Fantasia. The Solent, an 11 minute, 28 second piece, is free today from YourClassical.

The piece is performed by the Chamber Orchestra of New York, with Salvatore Di Vittorio conducting. You can download this piece by following the "Direct MP3 download link" on this webpage.

Interested in more information about this piece or one or more other pieces on the album? There is a Naxos webpage, here, with more information about the pieces on the album, as well as some general information about the album. There is a link, on that webpage, to a webpage of reviews for the album should that be of interest to you.

I should say, "a webpage with one review," because that is all that there is (it's lengthy, though) on the webpage at the present time. I notice that this album, like the one from which yesterday's freebie came, was published just this month.

I can't say that I knowingly have ever heard a composition of Williams' before, but I found this one to be majestic and very pleasant to listen to.

Enjoy!