The Boston Symphony Orchestra, which in December 2008 launched a music download service in MP3 and HD Surround formats, has released four new recordings at its website, bso.org. The recordings—Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloé; Brahms’s A German Requiem, with soprano Christine Schäfer and baritone Michael Volle; Bolcom’s Eighth Symphony; and Bolcom’s Lyric Concerto, with flutist James Galway—were recorded at Symphony Hall between 2006 and 2008. Music Director James Levine conducts all four performances; these are his first recordings with the BSO. Music can be purchased as individual tracks, full albums, or as complete multi-movement works, with HD Surround albums priced higher than MP3-formatted recordings. Beginning in mid-March, the Brahms and Ravel works will also be available on CD through online retailers Amazon, CDBaby, and iTunes. The BSO’s online music store also offers a three-month and twelve-month subscription service for unlimited downloads. “These recordings are the beginning of what we intend as an ongoing series of performances recorded in Symphony Hall during actual concerts in the presence of an audience. Today’s state-of-the-art advanced recording techniques make it possible to hear all the specific character of the orchestral sound, and the unique acoustic of this great, in a more vivid and detailed presence than ever before,” said Music Director James Levine in a statement.
