Wednesday (8/19) on his Orange County Register blog, Timothy Mangan writes that the Berlin Philharmonic “will launch its first full season of live webcasts on August 28 with Simon Rattle conducting the ensemble in Britten’s ‘Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra,’ the world premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s ‘Laterna Majica’ and Berlioz’s ‘Symphonie fantastique.’ Normally, I might not to bother you about such an event (I’m not much of one to watch concerts on my computer screen and, I suspect, neither are you), but the Berliner’s Digital Concert Hall appears to be a horse of a different color, i.e. something worth a ride. I was sent a link to test out the service, and it’s terrific: a high-definition image (Flash H.264 encoding), exceptional sound quality (data transfer rate of up to 320 kbit/s, close to CD quality) and even good camera work (remote controlled). … A season subscription, 33 concerts, is approximately $209. There is also a 30-day subscription ($55). Individual concerts can be had for $14. You can also get access to archived concerts. Students receive a 30 percent discount. Rattle will conduct 12 of the 33 digital concerts this season.”
Posted August 20, 2009
