RUBBISH CLASSICAL WEBSITES!!

Archive.org :>

All he wants is a site with everything pertaining to any classical music ever made for free? Oh shit, those are all over the place!!/sarcasm
Look around, there are a lot of places where you can find free music. Some of it's legal, and some of it isn't. It won't all be on one site, in any case, so you have to look. OR, the other option, actually BUY the music and be courteous enough to provide money to composers and artists who need it.

Originally Posted by SSC

Archive.org :>

You dirty, dirty, sneaky, tricky boy...

You're asking too much if you expect to find it all on one site, but there are a myriad of sites that provide what you want.

Forums and discussion
Piano Society Forum :: Index (specifically intended for pianists)
http://www.youngcomposers.com/forum/ (specifically intended for composers)
Classical Music Forums - Talk Classical (for general enthusiasts)

Unfortunately, all three of these forums are pretty damn slow. Not a lot of traffic, so don't expect "instant-messenger-like" response time. But if you use all three, that should keep you company.


*high quality* downloads from an infinite classical catalogue
Classic Cat - the free classical music directory (more than 4,800 recordings by hundreds of different composers; all sorts of different instrumental ensembles)
Piano Society - Free Classical Recordings and Sheet Music (more than 2,800 recordings by over 130 different composers)
Peabody Institute - Ensembles: PCO Concert Recordings (many great recordings by the Peabody Concert Orchestra)
Peabody Institute - Ensembles: PSO Concert Recordings (many great recordings by the Peabody Symphony Orchestra)
Audio - Columbia University Orchestra (a small selection of recordings by the Columbia University Orchestra)
MIT Chamber Music Society live recordings: Catherine McCurry, Juliet Gopinath, Mea Cook, Sunny Wicks, Vincent C. K. Cheung and friends (chamber recordings by the MIT Chamber Music Society)
ISGM Music: The Music Library (chamber music from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum)
Washington Musica Viva: Recordings (many recordings by the Washington Musica Viva)
Classical | iCompositions - Music (many recordings by independent musicians)

All of the above sites are completely free and legal. Classic Cat encompasses all of the sites below it, except for iCompositions, but I listed these sites because they're generally the "cream of the crop" for directly getting music to download. The quality is never FLAC-like, but generally it's pretty good, especially the Peabody and Columbia recordings. None of these are commercial recordings.

If you want exceptionally high-quality/commercial recordings, you'll have to use torrents.

half-decent search facilities to search on composer, ensemble, instrumentalist etc
Piano Society - Free Classical Recordings and Sheet Music (oriented for piano works)
Main Page - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (not to be underestimated; you can also check the References and External Links)

decent and up to date reviews
allmusic (personally I haven't visited here much, but it looks decent)
Amazon.com: Index: Classical Music (Jeff Bezos won't let you down)

Well, this should be more than enough.

Originally Posted by MatthewSchwartz

You're asking too much if you expect to find it all on one site, but there are a myriad of sites that provide what you want.

Forums and discussion
Piano Society Forum :: Index (specifically intended for pianists)
http://www.youngcomposers.com/forum/ (specifically intended for composers)
Classical Music Forums - Talk Classical (for general enthusiasts)

Unfortunately, all three of these forums are pretty damn slow. Not a lot of traffic, so don't expect "instant-messenger-like" response time. But if you use all three, that should keep you company.

HAY DUDE, HEADS UP. You postin' on the 2nd one there. :>

So chances are, he already found it.



...


Also, slow?


...


Really?

^ Yeah, but I decided I might as well make a "definitive" list and include everything.

And, yes. This forum is quite slow. It's certainly slower than some of the other forums I used to visit.

Needs more members. :[

Originally Posted by MatthewSchwartz

This forum [youngcomposers.com] is quite slow. It's certainly slower than some of the other forums I used to visit.

Needs more members. :[

I think the size of this community is great, and allows for better discussion. I wouldn't like it if it were much bigger...

What's slow about it here? Are you expecting a 2-minute turnaround after posting? Be patient, grasshopper.

Originally Posted by robinjessome

I think the size of this community is great, and allows for better discussion. I wouldn't like it if it were much bigger...

What's slow about it here? Are you expecting a 2-minute turnaround after posting? Be patient, grasshopper.

Meh, it just saddens me to see so many threads go unnoticed. For example, that opera collaboration thread sounded like a great idea, but there just simply aren't enough interested people here for it to work. And that one guy was going to make a guide on using GPO with Finale, but he realized that there just aren't enough interested people to make that worthwhile either. I prefer a more dynamic environment where threads get the attention they deserve.

So far, the only thread here at YC that I can think of that got more attention than I could ever imagine is the masturbation thread. -_-

Originally Posted by MatthewSchwartz

Meh, it just saddens me to see so many threads go unnoticed. For example, that opera collaboration thread sounded like a great idea, but there just simply aren't enough interested people here for it to work. And that one guy was going to make a guide on using GPO with Finale, but he realized that there just aren't enough interested people to make that worthwhile either. I prefer a more dynamic environment where threads get the attention they deserve.

You also have to take into account that many of us either (a) work, (b) are students, or (c) are lazy.
Some people are great at ideas but SUCK at follow-through.

Truth be told, what you get out of a contributing web site is what you put into it.

Personally I feel my laziness has a positive correlation with my activity on internet forums.

The majority of the members on the forums I've visited have been students. And ya can't have too many Young Composers working...that'd be child labor.