Andante

andante is a new type of classical music venture. Its aim is to document and preserve the world's recorded classical musical heritage and to become the definitive online resource for information about classical music and opera.

• Over the next decade, the andante label will release close to one thousand compact discs, each set luxuriously packaged with historically significant remasterings and previously unreleased material.


• The andante Web site features an array of informational and educational resources, live and recorded performances, professional services and a magazine section.

Since the demise of Emusic, I've had an extra $9.99 a month that I just didn't know what to do with. All my problems are over! Andante is the answer. This is an informational site about what is going on in the classical world with a music room is just chock full of gems. This is a streaming only subscription service much like Rhapsody. While Rhapsody has a lot of classical (more than Andante), Andante has some unique offerings. Andante has concerts that just aren't available elsewhere.

The first day I joined (last week) they were featuring a Glen Gould concert from 1959. Glen was 27 and it was four years later that he stopped performing in public. It's incredible. He opens with a Sweelinck piece (early Baroque), then a Schoenberg piece (early 20th century), a Mozart sonata, and finished up with Bach's Goldberg Variations. The Goldberg Variations! Absolutely pricless. Today's concert is Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time composed at Stalag VIII in 1940. This is new to me and is amazing. They even have a streaming video of this. It also has 24 minutes of the performers discussing the piece. I will be listening to this one again.

The reason I find this so exciting is that the concerts introduce me to music I've never heard. There is wonderfull stuff here. If you like classical music.

As I said, this site only allows streaming, but it is pretty good quality if you have broadband. As for burning — get a good wave editor.