New daily deal at eclassical!

[Musicophile]

http://www.eclassical.com/pages/christmas2013.html

Today they have Martin Fröst's brilliant Mozart clarinet concerto in 24/44 for 5 bucks! If at that price you don't purchase this album I can't help you any more.

[Musicophile]

Musicophile, the link you provided is to eClassical's Christmas special which I thought kicked off on December 1 with Suzuki's Bach Cantatas volume 33 and Mozart's Clarinet Quintet with Jörg Widmann. Are you sure the Martin Frost was available on that page? Anyway, the Frost version of the Concerto is available for the rest of the year, combined with the Clarinet Quintet as part of the 40th Anniversary deal, for $8.75 (24 bit). In line with eClassical's pro rata charging policy, the Concerto can be had alone for $3.78.

It's a DAILY deal, so you're just one day to late :-) Good incentive to check in every day.

 

Apparently, if you missed the daily deal, they still offer 25% off the next day, although the links in the grey fields below don't really seem to work. Which in the case of the Frost is indeed identical anyhow to the 40th anniversary deal.

[Musicophile]

Side note, they also have a new Suzuki Cantata every day (I believe yesterday was vol. 34), so at the price of one Caramel Macchiato Venti (or whatever these things are called) this is a good start for a cantata collection.

[Musicophile]

Well I'm confused. The Christmas specials are supposed to start on December 1st. It's still December 1st in Australia as I write this, so there must be a lot of December 1st left in the rest of the world. As I write, the Cantata volume on sale is #33. Did I miss #34 yesterday (November 30) and was that the day the Martin Frost appeared? Also, if there was an offer yesterday, shouldn't they be in the 25% discount boxes today.

 

It is still December 1st pretty much everywhere. But I assure you I saw the Fröst at $5.XX on that very same page, when I clicked on it yesterday afternoon.

 

To why they are not in the 25% window, beats me. So either I'm on drugs (although only a glass of Hine Cognac) or maybe I ended up seeing an early trial version of the page.

 

The Arcanto Quartet recording by the way is very nice. Very well recorded at 24/96 with a DR of 15.

[Musicophile]

Probably. The 25% windows are supposed to be for the sale items for the day before. Dec 1 is the first day of the sale event--there is no previous day items yet.

So probably it was the drugs. I'm convinced I saw the Fröst yesterday, when I received an email about the promotion.

[Musicophile]

I haven't been able to get their Checkout page to work all day. So much for the Bach Cantatas Vol. 33 @ 50% off...

I'd send them an e-mail. Usually their customer service is rather helpful.

[Musicophile]

Looks like today's deal features Isabelle Faust performing Berg and Beethoven as well as the Peer Gynt suite.

 

Musicophile, I seem to remember you commenting on the Faust piece in another thread- think it's worth the download? I have been curious about the Beethoven performance as well as the overall sound quality of the piece. Quboz has it listed under their "Studio Masters" but wasn't sure if you had any feedback?

The Faust still is my personal favorite for the Beethoven, and her Berg is good as well. Go for it!

[Musicophile]

Up to now what is offered as daily deal is first class. My only reservation is that I have already many of theses recordings.

100% agree, but finally they have one which I didn't have yet:

 

Ombra Cara: Händel Arias with Bejun Mehta and René Jacobs in 24/96.

 

I'm usually not a big fan of Opera best of's, but for Händel I can make an exception, as sometimes I simply don't have the courage for >3hrs of recitativo of an opera seria.

 

Downloading as we speak, will report back.

[Musicophile]

100% agree, but finally they have one which I didn't have yet:

 

Ombra Cara: Händel Arias with Bejun Mehta and René Jacobs in 24/96.

 

I'm usually not a big fan of Opera best of's, but for Händel I can make an exception, as sometimes I simply don't have the courage for >3hrs of recitativo of an opera seria.

 

Downloading as we speak, will report back.

Listening to it now.

 

To make it short: Amazing!

 

DR of 14-16, very well recorded. Jacobs and the Freiburger play brilliantly, and Mehta, that I'd never heard before, has a beautiful voice.

 

I also found these reviews:

Review: HANDEL Arias: Ombra Cara (countertenor: Bejun Mehta; Freiburg Baroque/Jacobs) - Classical Music - Limelight Magazine

 

Ombra Cara - Handel: Arias / Bejun Mehta | ArkivMusic

[Musicophile]

Just one caveat: the 24bit files I downloaded were not 24/96 as declared on the website, but 24/44. I just sent a message to eclassicals customer support. I assume they won't get back to me before tomorrow.

 

I was surprised anyhow to see a 24/96 recording from Harmonia Mundi from 2010, as I though they only switched to 24/96 masters later.

 

In any case, a beautiful recording, and well worth the less than 10 bucks it is currently sold at.

[Musicophile]

Just one caveat: the 24bit files I downloaded were not 24/96 as declared on the website, but 24/44. I just sent a message to eclassicals customer support. I assume they won't get back to me before tomorrow.

 

I was surprised anyhow to see a 24/96 recording from Harmonia Mundi from 2010, as I though they only switched to 24/96 masters later.

 

In any case, a beautiful recording, and well worth the less than 10 bucks it is currently sold at.

Just to follow up on this: I in the meantime got an e-mail from eclassical customer service, not only confirming that they made a mistake in the declaration, but also offering me another album as a free download in compensation! That is what I call excellent customer service!!!!

 

By the way, the album they offered me is an amazing recording of a 17th century lute in beautiful 24/96 sound, which I just highly recommend:

 

eClassical - Jacobean Lute Music

 

And no, I'm not affiliated with eclassical in any way, just an even happier customer now.

[Musicophile]

Today again an album I'd highly recommend:

 

Bachs Orchestral Suites (Ouvertures) played by the Freiburger Barockorchester.

 

eClassical - christmas2013

 

Probably my favorite recording of these slightly overplayed, but still timeless masterpieces.

[Musicophile]

which I bought some time ago from Qobuz for more than three times the price at which it is offered today on eClassical...

Same here unfortunately...

[Musicophile]

I got it a couple of months ago and have been pleased, but not thrilled, with it. These are good interpretations, well recorded, but not up there with reference recordings such as Furtwängler or Karajan to give just two examples. This reminds me that I recently got Mariss Janssons' new set but have not found the time to listen to it yet...

Agree, the Vänskäs are ok to good, but my latest preference is now Paavo Järvi with the Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. It's not 7 bucks completely wasted, but you can do better.

[Musicophile]

Anywhere with hi res to compare?

Unfortunately, I've only seen individual SACDs yet (e.g. see below). RCA is part of Sony now, so let's hope they eventually show up on some DSD download website.

 

Amazon.com: Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 8: Music

[Musicophile]

Anywhere with hi res to compare?

Unfortunately, I've only seen individual SACDs yet (e.g. see below). RCA is part of Sony now, so let's hope they eventually show up on some DSD download website.

 

Amazon.com: Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 8: Music

Otherwise Qobuz has the redbook Albums at the special price of €9,99 right now:

 

http://www.qobuz.com/album/paavo-jarvi-beethoven-symphony-no9/0884977325805

[Musicophile]

It forces people to pull the trigger and should increase sales and profits.

Sales sure, profits short term probably not, as they are selling at half price, i.e. more than 50% less margin than usually.

 

What they are obviously trying to ensure is that people recognize e-classical as their go-to site for purchasing BIS (where it was already obvious anyhow) but now also for Harmonia Mundi France, which traditionally (when we can speak about a tradition for a service that is only a handful of years old) were only found on Qobuz.

 

So indeed, mid-term if they are lucky they also increase their profits, if they get sufficient repeat business.

 

By the way, the already have a "daily deal" anyhow, which unfortunately usually has much older albums of less interest (at least to me). What is great with the current offer is that they really focus on recent high-res releases, and as already mentioned several times, of generally very high quality. The only issue with discounting is obviously if you do it too much, nobody will want to pay the regular price any more.

[Musicophile]

While their BIS offers are always very competitive, it is not always the case for Harmonia Mundi: their price for René Jacobs' recent recording of Bach's Mattheus-Passion is much higher than on Qobuz or HDKlassik.

I suppose the next thing somebody could be launching would be a price comparison website for downloads. Any venture capitalists on this forum?

[Musicophile]

I just went ahead and bought this for less than 10 bucks:

 

eClassical - C.P.E. Bach: Magnificat, Wq. 215

 

Very nice recording. DR13-14. Weird format though, 24/48.

 

 

eClassical - C.P.E. Bach: Magnificat, Wq. 215

[Musicophile]

Interesting- a 24 bit /176.4kHz SACD rip available (today only, of course) for $6 here. Looks like one of those "how can you go wrong?" kinds of deals...any feedback from those familiar with these works or this performance? As a classical music novice, wasn't sure if this might be worth an addition to the collection

I don't have it his version, but the music is beautiful (Mendelssohn is an underrated composer IMHO). You have a review here:

 

SA-CD.net - Mendelssohn: String Quintets - Mendelssohn String Quartet/Mann

[Musicophile]

Thank you so much for the recommendation! Downloaded this evening- absolutely stellar recording quality, now to sit back and enjoy the performance and learn, thanks Musicophile!

 

If you have time today, be sure to pick this great daily deal!! Amazing quality from a recording which apparently was done originally in DSD- overall DR for the album is 15!

I just bought it as well, downloading now. There is still too little well recorded high res chamber music out there. I suppose the only reason NOT to buy this is if you have a DSD DAC and want to wait for the moment when BIS finally publishes the DSD master (I think I saw some hints from Robert von Bahr somewhere this may eventually happen for their few DSD downloads). Otherwise, indeed for $6 you can't go wrong with this.

 

Let me recommend another special offer from e-classical, that just came out:

 

eClassical - Beethoven: Piano Trios, Op. 70 No. 2, Op. 97

 

 

Faust and Melnikov already have done a spectacular cycle of the Beethoven violin sonatas, and now attack the trios, together with the great Jean-Guihen Queyras. Really well played, just got a "Choc Classica" from the French magazine.

[Musicophile]

Thank you so much for the recommendation! Downloaded this evening- absolutely stellar recording quality, now to sit back and enjoy the performance and learn, thanks Musicophile!

 

If you have time today, be sure to pick this great daily deal!! Amazing quality from a recording which apparently was done originally in DSD- overall DR for the album is 15!

Listening to this now. Indeed a beautiful recording. The playground is very energetic, sometimes even wild, but it actually suits his material well.

 

On top of that, you probably won't be finding more GB per $ anywhere :-) 2.42GB of music for only $6... Unfortunately for everybody else, the deal seems to be over now.

[Musicophile]

Mendelssohn chamber music

 

If you like the Mendelssohn string quintets, I encourage you to try his string quartets, which are universally considered much better.

 

I don't know a high-res version.

I can highly recommend this recent download in 24/44 by the Quatuor Ebène. It also features a quartet by Fanny.

Mendelssohn Felix and Fanny | Felix Mendelssohn par Quatuor Ébène*– Télécharger et écouter l'album

 

I concur on the Emerson box, but would also throw in the Quatuor Ysaye on Decca.

[Musicophile]

eClassical has a bunch of specials for Easter. Anything in particular you all recommend?

All good stuff. I'd particularly recommend Stile Antico if you like early music (very well recorded choral), and the Pergolesi by Jacobs is supposed to be good, although I don't have it yet

[Musicophile]

Agree with Boris, with a very small handful of exzeptions BIs has always recorded their SACDs in 24/44 (more recently 24/96), so for native DSD you need to look elsewhere.

 

In any case, their recordings are usually way above average.