I've been trying to find a source of high-quality opera recordings (preferably belle canto) online, with absolutely no success. I found www.operanights.com, which is a very useful reference, but it provides very little help in actually finding the recordings it suggests, let alone a download site.
It seems odd, because there's so many high-quality sources for other types of classical music, such as Linn, Pristine Classical, HDTracks, etc - but none of these have any substantial amount of opera recordings.
Furthermore, recordings that are recommended on review sites are often very old - and I know (because I have many of them) that although the singers are great, the actual recordings are weak by modern standards (mono, tape hiss, etc).
I could of course try to find the individual recordings suggested at operanights at Amazon (and similar stores), get them shipped, and rip them - but I really hate buying CDs nowadays because it's so inefficient in so many ways...
It seems odd, because there's so many high-quality sources for other types of classical music, such as Linn, Pristine Classical, HDTracks, etc - but none of these have any substantial amount of opera recordings.
Furthermore, recordings that are recommended on review sites are often very old - and I know (because I have many of them) that although the singers are great, the actual recordings are weak by modern standards (mono, tape hiss, etc).
I could of course try to find the individual recordings suggested at operanights at Amazon (and similar stores), get them shipped, and rip them - but I really hate buying CDs nowadays because it's so inefficient in so many ways...