More orchestras join Google classical project

More orchestras join Google classical project

More orchestras join Google classical project

Four more leading orchestras on Friday
joined Google’s Classical Live, a project
by the Internet giant to bring more of
the concert hall audience into the
growing sector of streaming.
The London Philharmonic Orchestra,
Orchestre de Paris, Sydney Symphony
Orchestra and Boston Pops Orchestra all
will make available new recordings for
Classical Live, which is available for
streaming or downloading for users of
Google Play Music.
“Orchestras in the 21st century are
vibrant organizations that embrace new
ways of reaching audiences — and
offering recordings of our live concerts
via Classical Live on Google Play helps us
to share our music-making worldwide,”
Timothy Walker, chief executive and
artistic director of the London
Philharmonic Orchestra, said in a
statement.
The Orchestre de Paris said it hoped to
keep up its focus on the French
repertoire and contributed to the service
Claude Saint-Saens’ Symphony No. 3,
which is known for its innovative use of
organ.
The Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s chief
conductor David Robertson said he
hoped to offer pieces with “real
emotional content” and made available
Sibelius’ triumphant Symphony No. 2
and Schumann’s Symphony No. 2, a
piece whose sense of uplift belied the
composer’s declining health.
Streaming — which allows unlimited, on-
demand music — has been growing
rapidly in recent years but the key
markets have been pop and electronica.
Classical Live, launched in June, aims in
part to draw a younger audience for
classical music whose listeners tend to be
older but also wealthier.
Classical Live — the most concerted
foray into classical music among major
streaming platforms — started with five
participants including the New York
Philharmonic and the London Symphony
Orchestra.
The other participants were the Boston
Symphony Orchestra — whose
contributions include Mahler’s darkly
autobiographical Symphony No. 6 led by
star conductor Andris Nelsons — as well
as the Cleveland Orchestra and the Royal
Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam.