Classical Archives Celebrates NY Philharmonic Maestro Lorin Maazel

CLASSICAL ARCHIVES (WWW.CLASSICALARCHIVES.COM)

HIGHLIGHTS ITS EXPERT APPROACH TO ONLINE CLASSICAL MUSIC WITH TWO NEW FEATURE SPOTS

Palo Alto, CA -- The Classical Archives (www.classicalarchives.com), the ultimate classical music destination on the web for listening (on-demand streams), hi-definition downloads, and expert musicology, showcases its array of unique offerings with two feature spots in addition to a number of free concerts.

The featured entertainment includes:

• A special page, in partnership with the New York Philharmonic, dedicated to the New York Philharmonic's heroic celebration of Maestro Lorin Maazel's tenure as Music Director (2002-09). It features a live digital recording of The Complete Mahler Symphonies, Part 1: Symphonies 1-5 (recorded 2003–2006) – complete with an overview of the symphonies, original liner notes, and PLAY buttons to enjoy each symphony performance with one click.
  
  

• An intriguing review of Sony's new release Bach in Havana, where the spicy adaptations by Latin Jazz group Tiempo Libre are directly compared to the original source works by J.S. Bach. The original works include those performed by a stellar roster of classical artists such as: Hélène Grimaud, Itzhak Perlman, Mstislav Rostropovich, Wanda Landowska, and many others. The Classical Archives features works by more than 7,800 composers and over 27,000 artists.
  

In addition to the feature spots, Classical Archives continues to offer free top-notch concerts by celebrated artists. The site's new Home page layout offers dynamic presentations of this week's Featured Composer (Tchaikovsky); Featured Artist (pianist Piotr Anderszewski); and an array of New Releases by the major classical labels.

Classical Archives is also showcasing its free One-Click Concerts™, including a 2-hour Modern era concert generously provided by the Naxos label. Each program offers a brief commentary to introduce the newcomer to classical music with some guidelines and important considerations, as they enjoy these musical tours.

You may sign up for your 14-day free trial at www.ClassicalArchives.com

About Classical Archives

The Classical Archives (www.classicalarchives.com), the ultimate classical music destination, is the largest digital music subscription service dedicated to classical music. The site offers more than 620,000 tracks, 6,800 composers, and 27,000 artists representing more than 110 record labels. It also features a breakthrough in site navigation that allows users to search and cross-reference by any relevant criteria: composer, work title, artist, albums, historical period, instrument, genre, and many others that make finding and comparing the best classical recordings easier than it has ever been. Classical Archives offers unique membership opportunities that allow users to take advantage of its vast resources easily and affordably. Fees are $9.95/month or $99.50/year. Benefits include the ability to listen to music from the entire site (complete tracks or works); a 10% discount on all downloads (which are yours to keep for life!); and the first two weeks as a free trial of the service. Free registered members also enjoy great benefits: the ability to freely listen to The Classical Archives' own large catalog of contributed tracks, which includes many performances from world-class talents; the ability to listen to any music clips (30-60 seconds); the ability to purchase hi-definition downloads; and the ability to access and download free MIDI files.

Classissima.com offers a new section : Videos

Today, Classissima launches a new section : Videos. It helps visitors to identify the best videos from the web on classical music and opera.

Hundreds of videos are already available: interpretations, documentaries and interviews, and some funny clips...

Classissima is a collaborative website: casual visitors and classical music lovers can share their best web addresses. Of course, it is free.

Classissima continues its international development. At the same time, the Italian version joins the versions in English, in French and in Spanish. Thus, Classissima meets the expectations of 30 to 40 million-music lovers on Internet.

Classissima helps the visitor to discover new horizons. Each section addresses the language barrier in a different way. So, each version displays both:

• Specific contents for a specific language, such as the "Wall" of the News section,
• No-specific contents where sharing is the rule: videos is an example.

For more information

The website : www.classissima.com

Classical Archives Celebrates Launch With Major Artist Exclusive and Free 1-Click Concerts

Largest Online Classical Music Site Offers Exclusive Access to Maria João Pires'

New Deutsche Grammophon CD And Free Musical History Tours Covering Four Periods

The Classical Archives (www.classicalarchives.com), which is bringing online classical music shopping, listening and enjoyment into the 21st century, is celebrating its launch with an exclusive album launch from acclaimed pianist Maria João Pires and a series of free 1-click musical history concerts for all visitors. The site is the most complete classical music resource on the Internet with over 620,000 recorded tracks (building to over 1 million!) representing 6,600 composers, 21,000 artists and 100+ record labels representing a unique blend of the majors and independent labels.

Until June 2, the classical archives is the only place fans can purchase the newest album by Maria João Pires. Widely recognized as one of the most brilliant pianists of the last forty years, Pires is celebrating her 20th anniversary as a Deutsche Grammophon exclusive recording artist with an all-new, 2-CD release devoted entirely to the works of Chopin. This long-awaited recital includes the formidable Third Sonata, the cello sonata with cellist Pavel Gomziakov and a variety of smaller works, all composed during the last years of Chopin's life. This new recording, Pires's first in over four years, is available exclusively for download and streaming from Classical Archives.

Pierre R. Schwob, CEO and Founder, notes, "We are honored to be able to bring this stunning new Deutsche Grammophon album from Maria João Pires exclusively to our users. This is the caliber of artist exclusive that visitors to and members of The Classical Archives can expect to enjoy in the months and years ahead. We are working with all of the major labels and many exclusive independents to ensure that we are the ultimate destination for classical music online."

Roll Up For The Musical History Tour

As part of the launch, the site is inviting all visitors to enjoy a free special four-part series featuring essential pieces of Classical Music, from the early 17th to the present. Each "1-Click Concert™" is about two hours long, and is devoted to a major period of music history: Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Modern. The first three concerts are generously sponsored by major classical labels: Baroque (UMG), Classical (EMI), and Romantic (SonyBMG), while the Modern concert features recordings from our independent roster of talented artists. A Modern concert featuring recordings from the Naxos label is forthcoming.

These great works are performed by an assembly of preeminent artists from the major labels: Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, EMI, Angel, Sony, RCA, as well as our outstanding roster of independent artists. We salute the labels for this generous offering to the Classical Archives community.

Each program is introduced by some brief commentary to acquaint the newcomer to classical music with some guidelines and important considerations, as they enjoy these musical tours.

Schwob notes that the free concerts are indicative of the site's dedication to expanding the understanding of musical history and learning. "The Classical Archives site offers a wealth of learning for newcomers and aficionados alike. We provide detailed musicological information for each work: its proper movements and subdivisions, genre, principal instruments, year of composition, and key. Users can then easily compare various recordings of a given work, each identified in a proper and consistent manner – something not possible with any other site. "

The just launched site offers a breakthrough in site navigation that will be welcomed by anyone who has ever shopped for music online. The proprietary navigation and search engine capability that lets visitors search and cross-reference by any relevant criteria: composer, work title, artist, albums, historical period, instrument, genre, and many others that make finding and comparing the best classical recordings easier than it has ever been.

In addition to albums from major labels such as DG/Decca, Angel/EMI/Virgin, Sony/Columbia, and 100+ more, the site offers a large collection of free streaming tracks from its own roster of world-class talents. The company's ultimate goal is to offer the complete catalogs of all classical music record labels, as well as independent classical artists in DRM-free format, and to identify the recordings in a proper, consistent, and easily searchable form. Classical Archives will always allow users to keep their downloads for life: they are not tied to any conditions such as staying in a subscription program.

The new Classical Archives offers unique membership opportunities that allow users to take advantage of its vast resources easily and affordably. Fees are $9.95/month or $99.50/year. Benefits include the ability to listen to music from the whole site (entire tracks or works); a 10% discount on all downloads (which are yours to keep for life!); the first two weeks as a free trial of the service; the ability to access and download MIDI files free of charge.

Free registered members also enjoy great benefits: the ability to listen to any music clips (30-60 seconds); the ability to purchase downloads; and the ability to access and download MIDI files.

For more information, please visit: www.classicalarchives.com.

The Classical Archives Launches The Ultimate Online Classical Music Destination

New Music Store and Service Offers Largest Collection of Classical Recordings

and Most Sophisticated Interface on the Internet

The Classical Archives is about to bring online classical music shopping and listening into the 21st century! The Classical Archives – www.classicalarchives.com – goes live today as the ultimate destination for online classical music and a breakthrough in site navigation that will be welcomed by all. Catering to serious aficionados and eager newcomers alike, the site offers the largest collection of classical music available online as well as extensive background information on works, composers, artists, and much more.

Best of all, the site features a new proprietary navigation and search engine capability that lets visitors search and cross-reference by any relevant criteria: composer, work title, artist, albums, historical period, instrument, genre, and many others that make finding and comparing the best classical recordings easier than it has ever been. In addition to albums from major labels such as DG/Decca, Angel/EMI/Virgin, Sony/Columbia, and 100+ more, the site offers a large collection of free streaming tracks from its own roster of world-class talents.

Pierre R. Schwob, CEO and Founder, notes, "The Renaissance starts here! The Classical Archives will become the ultimate classical music site and a model for music sites in general: where the music you want can be easily and immediately found, and where composers, artists, and works get the respect they deserve. It marks the dawn of a new era for online music sales in terms of its navigation system and the wealth of contextual information it offers. Our sophisticated but elegant system has been developed by our expert team of musicologists, and built by our engineers using the latest advances in web technology. Anyone who has purchased music online, particularly classical music, knows well the current limitations of Internet music shopping and discovery. The Classical Archives is changing the whole user experience."

The newly launched Classical Archives opens its doors as the most complete classical music resource on the Internet with over 620,000 recorded tracks (building to over 1 million!) representing 6,600 composers, 21,000 artists and 100+ record labels representing a unique blend of the majors and independent labels. Tracks are available in high quality DRM-free MP3 for listening or downloading and some in MIDI format for synthesizers. The company's ultimate goal is to offer the complete catalogs of all classical music record labels, as well as independent classical artists in DRM-free format, and to identify the recordings in a proper, consistent, and easily searchable form. Classical Archives will always allow users to keep their downloads for life: they are not tied to any conditions such as staying in a subscription program.

Dr. Nolan Gasser, Artistic Director, states, "We are very proud of the contribution that the new Classical Archives is making to the world of classical music as a whole; for too long, the online consumer has dealt with a broken system, where the music is identified and displayed in an inconsistent, if not inaccurate, manner, making the process of finding and comparing recordings difficult or impossible. Admittedly, it is no easy task to correctly identify the vast repertoire of classical works, and then coordinate their various recordings, but our expert team of musicologists is committed to this goal, and the consumer will experience the music as they have only imagined."

The site provides detailed musicological information for each work: its proper movements and subdivisions, genre, principal instruments, year of composition, and key. Users can then easily compare various recordings of a given work, each identified in a proper and consistent manner – something not possible with any other site.

The new Classical Archives offers unique membership opportunities that allow users to take advantage of its vast resources easily and affordably. Fees are $9.95/month or $99.50/year. Benefits include the ability to listen to music from the whole site (entire tracks or works); a 10% discount on all downloads (which are yours to keep for life!); the first two weeks as a free trial of the service; the ability to access and download MIDI files free of charge.

Free registered members also enjoy great benefits: the ability to listen to any music clips (30-60 seconds); the ability to purchase downloads; and the ability to access and download MIDI files.

For more information, please visit: www.classicalarchives.com.

The Classical Archives Launches The Ultimate Online Classical Music Destination

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Russ Rowland May 19, 2009

HWH PR/ New Media

212-355-5049 x123

russr@hwhpr.com

THE CLASSICAL ARCHIVES LAUNCHES

THE ULTIMATE CLASSICAL MUSIC DESTINATION

New Music Store and Service Offers Largest Collection of Classical Recordings

and Most Sophisticated Interface on the Internet

New York, NY – The Classical Archives is about to bring online classical music shopping and listening into the 21st century! The Classical Archives – www.classicalarchives.com – goes live today as the ultimate destination for online classical music and a breakthrough in site navigation that will be welcomed by all. Catering to serious aficionados and eager newcomers alike, the site offers the largest collection of classical music available online as well as extensive background information on works, composers, artists, and much more.

Best of all, the site features a new proprietary navigation and search engine capability that lets visitors search and cross-reference by any relevant criteria: composer, work title, artist, albums, historical period, instrument, genre, and many others that make finding and comparing the best classical recordings easier than it has ever been. In addition to albums from major labels such as DG/Decca, Angel/EMI/Virgin, Sony/Columbia, and 100+ more, the site offers a large collection of free streaming tracks from its own roster of world-class talents.

Pierre R. Schwob, CEO and Founder, notes, "The Renaissance starts here! The Classical Archives will become the ultimate classical music site and a model for music sites in general: where the music you want can be easily and immediately found, and where composers, artists, and works get the respect they deserve. It marks the dawn of a new era for online music sales in terms of its navigation system and the wealth of contextual information it offers. Our sophisticated but elegant system has been developed by our expert team of musicologists, and built by our engineers using the latest advances in web technology. Anyone who has purchased music online, particularly classical music, knows well the current limitations of Internet music shopping and discovery. The Classical Archives is changing the whole user experience."

The newly launched Classical Archives opens its doors as the most complete classical music resource on the Internet with over 620,000 recorded tracks (building to over 1 million!) representing 6,600 composers, 21,000 artists and 100+ record labels representing a unique blend of the majors and independent labels. Tracks are available in high quality DRM-free MP3 for listening or downloading and some in MIDI format for synthesizers. The company's ultimate goal is to offer the complete catalogs of all classical music record labels, as well as independent classical artists in DRM-free format, and to identify the recordings in a proper, consistent, and easily searchable form. Classical Archives will always allow users to keep their downloads for life: they are not tied to any conditions such as staying in a subscription program.

Dr. Nolan Gasser, Artistic Director, states, "We are very proud of the contribution that the new Classical Archives is making to the world of classical music as a whole; for too long, the online consumer has dealt with a broken system, where the music is identified and displayed in an inconsistent, if not inaccurate, manner, making the process of finding and comparing recordings difficult or impossible. Admittedly, it is no easy task to correctly identify the vast repertoire of classical works, and then coordinate their various recordings, but our expert team of musicologists is committed to this goal, and the consumer will experience the music as they have only imagined."

The site provides detailed musicological information for each work: its proper movements and subdivisions, genre, principal instruments, year of composition, and key. Users can then easily compare various recordings of a given work, each identified in a proper and consistent manner – something not possible with any other site.

The new Classical Archives offers unique membership opportunities that allow users to take advantage of its vast resources easily and affordably. Fees are $9.95/month or $99.50/year. Benefits include the ability to listen to music from the whole site (entire tracks or works); a 10% discount on all downloads (which are yours to keep for life!); the first two weeks as a free trial of the service; the ability to access and download MIDI files free of charge.

Free registered members also enjoy great benefits: the ability to listen to any music clips (30-60 seconds); the ability to purchase downloads; and the ability to access and download MIDI files.

For more information, please visit: www.classicalarchives.com.