R.I.P. Lawrence “Butch” Morris, 1947-2013, known for his “Conductions”

Musician and composer Lawrence “Butch” Morris passed away on Jan. 29, 2013. Among his achievements, he was noted for his technique of “conduction”, a combination of conducting and improvisation. The image to the left shows the technique, using gestures to elicit musical responses from an ensemble of musicians, here in the piece “Possible Universe”. A […]

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Free download! Selections from Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker”, op.71

Kick off your holiday season with a free download of selections from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, op.71,  available courtesy of Alexander Street Press. You can grab the recording at this link: http://alexanderstreet.com/support-center/classical-music-library-free-download-week. Enjoy, and then impress, astound, and mystify your friends by name-dropping the Russian title, “Shchelkunchik”! The performance is by the Orchestre d’Etat du Palatinat Rhénan, […]

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Check out our streaming audio resources!

There are several databases offering streaming audio which are available through the Libraries. You can access these from any computer in campus libraries, as well as from your dorm room or off-campus (with your UNI and password). Audio titles include: Classical Music Library, Naxos Music Library,  Naxos Music Library Jazz, Smithsonian Global Sound, Contemporary World […]

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Free Download: Scriabin’s 8 Etudes for Piano, Op. 42

A free download of Scriabin’s “8 Etudes for Piano”, op.42, is being offered this week by Alexander Street Press/Classical Music Library. It’s available at http://alexanderstreet.typepad.com/music/, in a recording by pianist Nicole Afriat. And, don’t be alarmed by the different spellings of Scriabin… I’m just using our standard spelling in CLIO here! It will sound just […]

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Naxos Music Library adds film music audio content

Naxos Music Library , available through the Columbia University Libraries, has added new content from the label Varese Sarabande to its collection. Varese Sarabande specializes in film and television soundtracks; content offered includes film music by noted composers such as Bernard Hermann, Duke Ellington, Elmer Bernstein, Jerry Goldsmith, and James Horner. Titles include “North by […]

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Naxos Music Library and Naxos Jazz audio now in CLIO

Streaming audio content available on Naxos Music Library and Naxos Jazz is now indexed in CLIO! Over 4,500 records from Naxos Music Library and 1,500 records from Naxos Jazz have been added. This means that when you are searching CLIO, any available Naxos streaming audio content which matches your search will come up, along with […]

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Tip: audio interviews on Rock’s Back Pages

Rock’s Back Pages, an online database provided through the Columbia University Libraries, provides electronic access to an “… archive of reviews, interviews and features on artists from Aaliyah to ZZ Top, by the world’s best rock writers and from the most influential music publications.” One interesting area of content that may not be immediately noticed […]

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Tips on audio playback for Naxos Music Library

Naxos Music Library, one of the Libraries’ online audio databases, seems to have recently changed their web site, in a way that may impact some users. When you select your audio and start playback, a window launches, running a Flash audio player. Unfortunately, this player will not work on standard library workstations! If you look […]

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Audio databases, and some other related resources

You can browse a listing of electronic audio databases, under “E-Music and Sound Collections” under the “E-Resources” tab on the Libraries’ home page. There are some terrific resources here! In addition, here are a few titles that don’t appear in the list linked to above, but contain media content that may be of interest to […]

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New Database: Contemporary World Music

Columbia University Libraries has subscribed to Contemporary World Music (Alexander Street Press). This database provides streaming audio content, covering in this initial release ” …1,030 albums, equalling 13,726 tracks”, including content from labels including: Topic, Playasound, Budamusique, Air Mail Music, Manuiti, Crossing Records, Lyrichord World Music, Navras Records, and INEDIT. Additional new content is planned. […]

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