 | This article contains promotional content. (December 2018) |
 Classical Archives Homepage, June 21, 2010 | |
| Launch date | August 2000 |
|---|---|
| Pricing model | Downloads for purchase, unlimited streaming by subscription |
| Website | classicalarchives |
Classical Archives LLC is an online digital music store that solely focuses on classical music. Originally opening as the Classical MIDI Archives in 1994 primarily as a repository for free MIDI sequences of classical music works, in August 2000 the site incorporated as Classical Archives, LLC, and has since been also offering commercial label recordings for both streaming and downloading.
Both members and non-members can access detailed musicological information for each work: movements, genre, principal instruments, year of composition, and key. Additionally, nearly every composer's biography is provided.[1] Free radio streaming is available for computers and mobile devices that also includes a device to close the connection in one hour, if desired.[2]
Classical Archives uses a proprietary system (called the Contextual Metadata Engine) that allows for the ingestion and cataloguing of all recordings based on musicological accurate and uniform metadata. Because of the Contextual Metadata Engine, visitors can search and cross-reference by various relevant criteria: composer, work title, artist, albums, historical period, instrument, and genre, in order to find and compare different recordings.[3] The website also includes a section on composers (the greats, the notables or all), which include Leonard Berstein,[4] George Gershwin and more.
Classical Archives was founded by CEO Pierre R. Schwob.[5] The cataloguing of the Classical Archives database is carried out by a team of musicologists led by Chief Musicologist and Artistic Director Dr. Nolan Gasser.[6]
- ^ "Piano Sonata No.14 in C#-, Op.27, No.2 ('Moonlight')". Classical Archives. Retrieved September 9, 2023.
- ^ "CLASSICAL ARCHIVES INTERNET RADIO". Archived from the original on August 13, 2006.
- ^ "News & Information".
- ^ "The Greats - Classical Archives".
- ^ "Pierre Schwob | Linkedin".
- ^ Jurgensen, John (May 8, 2009). "New Ways to Buy Bach Online". The Wall Street Journal.