Internet radio stations & other alternatives to Radio 3

I do think that the best of all the internet radio stations I have discovered is

http://www.concertgebouworkest.nl/en/Metamenu/RCO-Radio/

The sound of these concert performances is up with the best of any CD I own.

Outstanding 'live' performances of Bruckner symphony no. 7 conducted by Haitink in 2006 and just now a performance of Brahms piano concerto no 2 with an almost chamber music-like slow movement by Ansnes with Jansons (from 02/04/11).

[teamsaint]

Well one problem with internet only radio stations is that they can easily go off air with no warning.
Like my current (ex) fave.

I am bereft.


Alternatively, R3 could get its act together, and do us all a favour......

[Dave2002]

re msg 30:

I think Linn also have high quality streaming channels - http://radio.linnrecords.com/index2.html - though of course still using a form of lossy compression, and very probably not the best that can be done at 320kbps - MP3 - though it shouldn't be too bad.

[Stunsworth]

So I've tried a few of the links on this thread, e.g. Auiophile, and am astonished at (a) how easy it is and (b) the sound quality...compared for instance with BBCi-player

If you're in the UK the iPlayer feed should be at 320k, which is just about as good as it gets. Outside of the UK I think it drops to 48k, or something similarly useless. I've not tried the Audiophile stations yet, but they should be very good too.

Some of the radio stations I've tried have the signal very highly modulated, so that they sound louder.

There's also a very good rock channel, Radio Paradise, that's intended to stream to Naim devices and does so at 320k. If I can remember, I'll post a link to that when I get home. I realise it's not classical, but someone may be interested.


Edit...

Here's the URL of the station - http://37.130.228.60:8014

[Dave2002]

Further to above - RadioIO also has a section under Classical which it calls Soundtracks. Out of curiosity I went there, not expecting to find anything I'd want to listen to, and I found this straight away:

The Girlfriends (Film Music), Op. 41
Shostakovich | Mark Fitz-Gerald | Polish National Radio Symphony

!!!

Now, when will they get round to Schnittke's Adventures of a Dentist?

One thing which ardcarp and others may want to know is that it can be useful to have more than one browser installed. Some Internet Stations get locked into a window or tab within a browser, and navigating away from that window or tab will cause the music to be lost. It doesn't always happen, as some open a separate window or even application to receive the music stream, but others don't. That's one reason why I have several browsers, including Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera. Currently typing this in Firefox, but listening via Safari - and the music will stop if I move away from the page.

However, now got Revenge by James Horner from Braveheart, so I'm happy to move on, as the Shostakovich has finished.

Some who frequent these pages may also be interested in the Jazz selection at RadioIO, which seems quite comprehensive - see the full genre listing here - http://www.radioio.com/genre/all/

I don't have anything to do with that station - but I simply think it has some rather decent offerings, and is well organised.

PS: Rider to above - one not so good thing is the pop up adverts - best to ignore them, unless you want to win a £1000,000 and give all your secrets away. OK - not really £1M, but rather a chance to win £1M! Do that at your own risk!

PPS: In fairness to above PS, you can subscribe (for money!) and not have the adverts.

Favorites now playing : Piano Concerto No. 2 in E major, Op. 12
Eugen D'Albert | Joseph Banowetz, Dmitry Yablonsky

[Dave2002]

Quite pleasant, but seems to be all single movements?

I agree - it (sky.fm) might seem to be for for musical wallpaper enthusiasts. Earlier there was a whole Mozart flute quartet as far as I could tell, so it may be a bit random whether you get to hear a whole work or not.

I found it because at one point a year or two back I thought that the other site I mentioned - RadioIO - was being subsumed into Sky or some similarly named organisation, and when I searched that came up. As far as I can tell, "Mike Matheney's" Channel on RadioIO still plays whole works. Currently - The Forsaken Merman, For Orchestra, Op 20 Farrar | Alistair Mitchell | Philharmonia Orchestra. I think there used to be several classically oriented "channels" at RadioIO - including Favourites and Guitar.

Favorites (sic) still exists - http://www.radioio.com/channels/clas...cal-favorites/ - currently Violin Concerto No. 10 in B Minor, Op. 19, Pierre Rode | Nicolas Pasquet | Friedemann Eichhorn, Violin Don't know who the composer is!

PS: I can't find the guitar "channel" at RadioIO. I also thought there was an opera "channel" - but again I can't trace it. I'll send a note to Mike Matheney. Currently the Favorites channel has a rather decent version of Beethoven 7 - Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92
Beethoven | John Nelson | Ensemble Orchestral de Paris which I recall was given a fairly enthusiastic welcome a few years ago on CD Review.

PPS: The composer of the earlier violin concerto was Pierre Rode whom I'd not heard of previously - this recording from Naxos - http://www.allmusic.com/album/pierre...3-mw0001565630

PPPS: The sound quality does sound better than in previous years - though it may vary.

[Nick Armstrong]

But maybe someone (Caliban?) can help with a few questions.

1. Why is i-Tunes needed to get these music stations? I seem to get them OK on my non-Apple kit.

Hi ardcarp - I can only help with the first of those questions. The answer is you don't need iTunes to hear internet radio - you can stream them directly off the relevant website, as you've found, through your computer speakers.

(I was guilty of eliding two issues - my iTunes comments were because, on my new set-up at home, I can only beam the internet radio stations wirelessly to my HiFi if I listen through iTunes, because I've bought a bit of Apple kit to do so.

The other reason for referring to iTunes is that there is an inbuilt list of hundreds of internet radio stations, which makes listening to a wide range of stations incredibly easy. You can get iTunes on your non-Apple kit though it's a large piece of software.

But iTunes is certainly not essential).

Glad you are dipping your toes!

I do think that the best of all the internet radio stations I have discovered is

http://www.concertgebouworkest.nl/en/Metamenu/RCO-Radio/

The sound of these concert performances is up with the best of any CD I own.

Re iTunes - it isn't needed on all machines, and indeed on PCs there are other software systems which will do as well, or better.
I can't remember the major ones - perhaps Songbird and maybe Foobar, and indeed many of the music players, such as winamp will probably now have this capability.

.........

I thought they may have been submerged into another organisation, such as Sky. Sky.fm has some reasonable quality material, though is a bit of a "high quality" easy listening "serious" classical station - http://www.sky.fm/classical
Currently it is playing Dussek's Op 60 quartet, which is hardly the usual "Beethoven/Tchaikovsky etc." fare.

Quite pleasant, but seems to be all single movements?

In reply to ardcarp, on a PC you can usually just connect to the appropriate site link in your browser, without any extra software. Or are we saying that this means you only get a lower quality feed? It seems fine to me for normal 'room listening'.

[Dave2002]

1. Why is i-Tunes needed to get these music stations? I seem to get them OK on my non-Apple kit.

2. What do these small internet stations gain from their operations? I suppose what I'm really asking is whether altruism is alive and well.

3. What happens if these small independent 'webcasters' become saturated? Audiophile Classical has a mere 45 listeners at the moment, and has a maximum of 1000. Will the www cope if the world's population is viewing and listening online 24/7 ?

Re iTunes - it isn't needed on all machines, and indeed on PCs there are other software systems which will do as well, or better.
I can't remember the major ones - perhaps Songbird and maybe Foobar, and indeed many of the music players, such as winamp will probably now have this capability.

I used to listen to RadioIO quite a bit - and Mike Matheny there is amenable to suggestions. http://www.radioio.com/channels/classical/classical/
They used to have listings - much of the material was of interest, and included quite a lot of up to date British music in new recordings. It's still there, and the sound quality seems OK - perhaps better than before - but the detailed information may now be missing. Currently playing Fanfare to the New Atlantis, For Orchestra, Op. 281/1/Alan Hovhaness | Stewart Robertson

I thought they may have been submerged into another organisation, such as Sky. Sky.fm has some reasonable quality material, though is a bit of a "high quality" easy listening "serious" classical station - http://www.sky.fm/classical
Currently it is playing Dussek's Op 60 quartet, which is hardly the usual "Beethoven/Tchaikovsky etc." fare.

[ardcarp]

Having only just discovered this thread, and being something of a cyberphobe, my instinct is to declare myself confused. But I've just spent a couple of weeks abroad chez ma soeur who is 9 years older than I (thus pretty ancient) and she was navigating her way around a new Sony Internet Radio without a care in the world.

So I've tried a few of the links on this thread, e.g. Auiophile, and am astonished at (a) how easy it is and (b) the sound quality...compared for instance with BBCi-player.

Co-incidentally, I heard a programme on The World Service where a panel was making predictions for 2014. One was that terrestrial broadcasting stations would diminish as most people would transfer their viewing and listening to online sources. So, no more 'what's on BBC4 tonight, darling'. We shall see.

But maybe someone (Caliban?) can help with a few questions.

1. Why is i-Tunes needed to get these music stations? I seem to get them OK on my non-Apple kit.

2. What do these small internet stations gain from their operations? I suppose what I'm really asking is whether altruism is alive and well.

3. What happens if these small independent 'webcasters' become saturated? Audiophile Classical has a mere 45 listeners at the moment, and has a maximum of 1000. Will the www cope if the world's population is viewing and listening online 24/7 ?

[french frank]

I've moved the original thread to this board. But before either gets too unwieldy , it might be a good idea to compile a list, just urls, titles with minimal further information. It could sit in the Reference Library?

[Nick Armstrong]

I have recently found French station Radio Neptune which plays a good variety of WHOLE classical pieces during the day, with minimal introductions, (no tweets, texts, trailers or new bulletins) and a wide selection of jazz during the evenings and nights.

Link :- http://www.radio-neptune.net/

Good one, Crowcatcher, many thanks!

I have recently found French station Radio Neptune which plays a good variety of WHOLE classical pieces during the day, with minimal introductions, (no tweets, texts, trailers or new bulletins) and a wide selection of jazz during the evenings and nights.

Link :- http://www.radio-neptune.net/

Hang on, let me turn it up a notch or eight....

That rattled me fenestrations

[Nick Armstrong]

No, I still can't hear your HiFi from here

Hang on, let me turn it up a notch or eight....