Best Sites For Classical Music Lovers
It might surprise you, but the term ‘classical music’ did not really exist until the early 1800s. This phrase came into being in an attempt to classify the music created from Bach to Beethoven as a golden age of music. Today the term ‘classical music’ generally refers to music created with orchestral instruments from the 1700s to the early 20th century.
Our favorite sites for classical music are detailed in the list below.
Classical Archives
The Ultimate Classical Music Destination
This is probably our favorite website to date for listening to classical music. We like it a lot because it allows you to stream endless amounts of classical music to your PC. All you want for only $7 per month. We find this to be quite a deal. And the catalog of music they have is staggering. Are you interested in Schubert’s Piano Sonata #21? You are in luck, because this site has 38 recordings of it! There are few recordings of the top 100 or so composers that this site does not have. If you want to download the music, you can buy the recording of your choice for a low price. But we are happy usually to just stream music for hours while working on the PC.
>> The Ultimate Classical Music Destination – ClassicalArchives.com
Classical.Net
The Internet’s Premier Classical Music Source
This site is a great resource to learn all about the history of classical music. There is a stunning amount of information to be had here on the different periods of classical music, all of the major and minor composers of the last 500 years, and literally thousands of listed works by them all. We like the recommended lists of specific works and recordings. This is a really good guide to help you build a classical music library. We also like the many lists of composers sorted by birthdate, death and dates they completed their major works.
>> The Internet’s Premier Classical Music Source – Classical.Net
Naxos
The World’s Leading Classical Music Group
This is another good site that you can listen to streaming classical music. It has a catalog of about 5,000 recordings which is going to keep most classical music fans happy for a good while. You also can get steep discounts for recording purchases. It is more expensive than classicalarchives.com. We like that you can buy music from your choice of sources, including iTunes, Napster and RealRhapsody.
>> The World’s Leading Classical Music Group – Naxos.com
Classical-Music.Com
The Official Website of BBC Music Magazine
This is a great site to learn all about the history of classical music as well as lots of information about modern recordings of classics, as well as the latest news on various orchestras around the world. We like all of the various free recordings you can download, and we like the discounted prices and extensive catalog of recordings you can buy. We also were interested in many of the articles, such as the one about how a modern violin is preferred by professionals over a renowned Stradivarius.
>> The Official Website of BBC Music Magazine – Classical-Music.Com
ArkivMusic.Com
The Source For Classical Music
This site prides itself in stocking difficult-to-find recordings of classical music. It has a very impressive list of modern classical music performers and all of the recordings of their music that is available for purchase. They also have a huge list of composers and all of the recordings made by them as well. We were able to find many recordings here that were hard to find elsewhere.
>> The Source for Classical Music – ArkivMusic.Com
Classical.Com
Unlimited Listening
This is a really good classical music site to stream music, as well. You can select from 750k tracks and 3300 composers. You can log in from any computer you like and stream as much as you want. It costs $12 per month, and you also get eight free tracks to download every month. You also get 12 more tracks after you have been on the site for 12 months. You can create your favorite playlists on the site, too.
>> Unlimited Listening – Classical.Com
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