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Hyperion catalogue now available to stream.

Funny enough I was just about to purchase Mahan Esfahani's latest album. I see it is on Tidal so might not need to, although if it is as good as I expect I probably still will. Accessing music via an online streaming service is all very well but it is a very poor substitute to browsing and searching and comparing ones own files via JRiver.
 
Yay! :)

And all of the issues I have checked out on Qobuz have their booklets available, too - including the Schubert Song Edition :):)

Unlike other labels in the Universal stable, Hyperion appears to have retained control of the presentation of its own catalogue :cool:
 
This is great news. I hope all Robert King's Vivaldi, Handel and Purcell cycles become available. Not to mention all the nice baroque chamber music they recorded by the Purcell quartet etc.
 
camverton said:
Funny enough I was just about to purchase Mahan Esfahani's latest album. I see it is on Tidal so might not need to, although if it is as good as I expect I probably still will. Accessing music via an online streaming service is all very well but it is a very poor substitute to browsing and searching and comparing ones own files via JRiver.
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How so Camvy? is it not virtually the same?
 
Darren said:
How so Camvy? is it not virtually the same?
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Assuming you mean searching and browsing, not at all. With JRiver I can browse by anything that is tagged. Want to browse, say, oboe sonatas or composers of a particular nationality or era, listed alphabetically by date composed or whatever I might find useful, no problem. I haven't found a way to do this on Tidal. Browsing with JRiver is, or can be if set up well, so good that I rarely needs to search. On Tidal I have to search and then find that to locate a particular album in some cases I can only find it by composer, on others only by conductor or maybe a soloist.

I do have a reasonable number of ripped files which cover most of my listening needs particularly as I spend more time getting to know what I have rather than flitting about through the catalogue, although Tidal is useful for trying out new stuff or different performances - if I can find it. Then there is the question of do I need to seek out another version of Shostakovich's 15th String Quartet when I already have about 15 of them - some might say that is already 15 too many!
 
camverton said:
Assuming you mean searching and browsing, not at all. With JRiver I can browse by anything that is tagged. Want to browse, say, oboe sonatas or composers of a particular nationality or era, listed alphabetically by date composed or whatever I might find useful, no problem. I haven't found a way to do this on Tidal. Browsing with JRiver is, or can be if set up well, so good that I rarely needs to search. On Tidal I have to search and then find that to locate a particular album in some cases I can only find it by composer, on others only by conductor or maybe a soloist.

I do have a reasonable number of ripped files which cover most of my listening needs particularly as I spend more time getting to know what I have rather than flitting about through the catalogue, although Tidal is useful for trying out new stuff or different performances - if I can find it. Then there is the question of do I need to seek out another version of Shostakovich's 15th String Quartet when I already have about 15 of them - some might say that is already 15 too many!
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Do you only have one version of his 1st string quartet?
 
I am very fond of Hyperion's work because to these ears they seem to pay a lot of attention to all of music selection, artistic performance and production quality.

I have quite a few Hyperion CDs. Listening to the rest of the Hyperion catalogue through Qobuz is a treat to which I really look forward.
 
This is great news.

Only one Robert Simpson symphony released for streaming so far (9th), really enjoying it.
Looking forward to others popping up soon, hopefully.
Several albums of his string quartets, though. I'll try them today.

Looking forward to exploring Alina Ibragimova's violin efforts as well.
 
Perhaps the most important thing in Hyperion changing to streaming is that the artists are at least as well compensated as they were before. It would be interesting to know how they are affected, although I suppose some might find greater exposure compensation if their remuneration is less.
 
Hyperion were resolutely against streaming a while back. Here’s an excerpt from an article in The Gramophone in 2015:


“Take the example of Hyperion Records, who have decided not to make themselves available on any on-demand streaming platforms. In 2013 a well-reviewed Baroque vocal album cost them £36k to make. During 2013, this album earned £10,847 through 2,104 CD sales and £2,152 through 444 download sales. However, 34,947 streaming events on iTunes Radio earned just £22.13. Not good, even within the context of iTunes Radio paying out less than a subscription service.

Hyperion's Chief Executive Simon Perry puts it even more starkly. ‘If in the future there are no CD sales, no downloads and people only wish to stream, then how on earth does the label find the £1.5 million in cash to pay for the 75 recordings we make each year?’ he asks. ‘I don't have a pot of gold at the bottom of my garden. If we then start offering our recordings on streaming services for virtually no financial return, and the majority of people decide that that's how they wish to consume music in the future, then I can't see where the income will come from to pay for all the new recordings.‘“

Full article here: https://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/article/making-waves-classical-music-and-the-rise-of-streaming
 
I wonder if the situation has changed since 2015? It would be very sad if recording of new music and the less popular music were to dry up as a result of the move to streaming. I think Hyperion were wise to keep clear of streaming and they have a fantastic catalogue with many rarer pieces of music; the Symphonies and string quartets of Robert Simpson mentioned above being one example. I’ve certainly not begrudged buying many Hyperion recordings and certainly haven’t felt hard done by, after all, I’ve spent thousands on equipment and imho I should be prepared to pay a fair price for the music I play on it.

As it happens I have bought most of the symphonies and string quartets of Simpson over the years and, having bought them, I return to them from time to time. I’m fairly certain that if I had sampled them on Tidal I probably wouldn’t have returned to them as it is music that takes time to get to know. Rewards come slowly. Much the same with Maxwell Davies string quartets. I could stream them on tidal but probably wouldn’t have persevered with them as much as I have having bought them and probably wouldn’t have come to appreciate just how great they are, which would have been my loss. Others mileage doubtless varies!
 
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