I thought I'd let you know that the BBC
is releasing all of Beethoven's symphonies for download as mp3 files.
They're brand spanking-new performances by the BBC Philharmonic performed live on BBC Radio 3. For a week after each performance, they'll be available to download.
The thing is they're only going to be up for a limited time. Already Symphonies 1 and 3 are gone and 2, 4 and 5 will be taken down by late tomorrow (Tuesday) morning. The other four symphonies will be performed live over BBC Radio 3 and then put online later this month.
So I'm sure you can get classical performances elsewhere, but this sounds like a really neat endeavor. I'll probably find Symphonies 1 and 3 somewhere else.
-- From an e-mail I sent to pepband-chat.