Classical Archives is the world's best curated (and oldest) classical music site in the world. The site was inaugurated in 1994, during the web’s infancy, to offer the most extensive collection of classical music MIDI files. We added live recordings 2001 and have continued to grow ever since. As you can see from the statistics above, we now have over 1,000,000 tracks from over 690 labels. These recordings represent the works of close to 20,000 composers. The site is refreshed weekly with the addition of newly released albums, from which our musicologists carefully prepare a list of selected recommendations.

The essential attribute of Classical Archives is the care with which all data is ingested, checked, and cross-referenced. (Unlike some other sites, if you search for “Beethoven,” you won’t find a movie about a dog…) From almost any page (Album, Work, Performer), you can click on cross-links within the page to go to the related Performer-, Work-, Album-, or Composer-page.

The search for composers is accessible through three pages: “The Greats,” “Notables,” and “All.” We also have a search engine which you can open by clicking on the magnifying glass icon in the navbar. The engine allows you to type a simple search for a Work, Composer, Performer, or Album title.

For those who are new to classical music, the site also offers lists of “Must Know” works, which can be explored in two ways: by Composer or by a combination of Periods and Genres. You can play a work directly by clicking on the red Play arrow (which will play the latest edition of that work added to the Archives), or you can jump to the composer page or the work page by clicking on the appropriate text to the right of the arrow.

As a subscriber, you may create (and share) as many playlists as you wish. You may also want to explore the playlists created for us by Naxos, or by other users.

To get full, unlimited access to all these treasures, you may subscribe to the Archives for only US$7.99/month or US$79.90/year (which is the cost of only ten months.) We offer a completely free 14 day trial period. If you cancel your trial before the 15th day, you will not be charged.

As a subscriber, you get unlimited streaming access to everything on the site, and you’ll get a 10% discount on any purchased downloads for those who wish to keep their music files on their own devices. Subscriber may also freely download as many as 100 MIDI files per day from our collection (which is accessible through our “Classic CA” site.)

A final note: Our only sources of revenues are from subscriptions and purchased downloads (with a trickle from minimal advertising.) WE DO NOT SHARE OR SELL ANY PERSONAL DETAILS with any third party. Period. Moreover, we do not keep any of your credit card or other billing information ourselves: this is sent and secured by Paypal and is not retained on our servers.

Happy listening,
The Classical Archives team