  | Buying the Christmas Oratorio | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Recording | CD | Download |
Amazon
- £16 | ||
Amazon
marketplace | ||
MDT
Compilation - £29 | ||
Audiolunchbox (disc 1; disc 2 - *warning* - there appears to be a problem at the moment with 3 tracks on disc 1 (1, 29 & 31)) - via subscription - approx £5 per month (see below) | ||
Musicaomnia
- $16 | Audiolunchbox (disc 1; disc 2) - via subscription - approx £5 per month (see below) | |
Audiolunchbox (disc 1; disc 2; disc 3) - via subscription - approx £5 per month (see below) | ||
MP3.de (German language) for E9.99, around £6.70 (see below) |
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Archiv offer two particularly good value compilations of the collected choral works of Bach conducted by Karl Richter and John Eliot Gardiner. Richter's set is on 10 CDs and includes, in addition to the Christmas Oratorio, Bach's Magnificat, St John Passion, St Matthew Passion and Mass in B Minor. Gardiner's is spread over 9 CDs and includes the Christmas Oratorio, St John Passion, St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B Minor. Richter's set contains many great performances, particularly his 1958 St Matthew Passion; Gardiner's is our personal preference as we like period instrument recordings: these big works get a wonderful series of interpretations from Gardiner.
It can be confusing making your way through the various retail models currently being tried out for music downloads. The simplest are the sites on which you buy a single product - like the Warners / Freshdigital site. However, this is not always so simple: Warners sell their music in Windows Media Audio format, featuring copy protection. This means that it only plays in Windows Media Player unless you burn it to a CD and rip it as, say, mp3 files. You get a limited number of times you're allowed to do this - you should, though, if only to get a back up. MP3.de, which offers the Fasolis recording, sells MP3 files which have no restrictions, as does eclassical.com, who have the Ericson version at that bargain price.
The alternative to this is to sign up to a subscription site, which charges a set monthly fee for a certain number of downloads. The two best sites, in our experience, are emusic.com and audiolunchbox.com. They do things slightly differently: emusic charges per track, which makes a work like the Christmas Oratorio not such good value; audiolunchbox.com charges per 'credit' - most albums over 10 tracks long are set at 10 of these credits, making it exceptionally good value. At the moment, audiolunchbox offers a great introductory offer and a low monthly fee of around £5 per month for 40 credits, which you can cancel at any time. Emusic's offer is good but not quite as good - 25 free downloads - and it's monthly fee is higher (£9.00 for 30 tracks).
Nevertheless, it is great value for other
kinds of music and albums with fewer tracks (particularly symphonies) -
and it's well worth trying out their free trial: 25
Free Downloads Now Available in 25 European Countries!
The only drawback of Audiolunchbox is that once you have purchased music, you get 24 hours in which to download your tracks, after which they are no longer available unless purchased again. So download quickly and back up your tracks! There is also a problem with the Christophers recording at present on 3 tracks - so be warned, unless you wish to top up these tracks elsewhere, for example via Emusic's free trial. Emusic allow you to re-download as much as you like.