About
Orpheus & Bacchus - downloads coming very soon to Pristine Audio
Direct
"A
music-lover’s dream come true" Michael
White, Daily Telegraph
The
Orpheus & Bacchus Music Festival was launched in 1999 in the Gironde,
France, by Ian Christians, whose past has mixed top executive positions
with a variety of entrepreneurial classical music activities. The same
year an ancient former wine estate, Le Faure, possessing a potentially
superb music salon, was purchased and after a massive restoration project
the first concerts were given there in 2003.
Created
to be the ideal chamber music venue for musicians and guests alike, (with
24 rooms, 3 swimming pools, tennis court etc.) in the peace of beautiful
French countryside, the ambitions have been more than fulfilled and since
then a wonderful stream of concerts has delighted the residential guests.
“Since it was explained to me in 1988 that digital compression
techniques were going to allow an opera on a CD-sized disc, I have believed
that the future of classical music was going to move in the visual direction.”
Ian Christians’ states. “I believe people will want the opportunity
to see the artists perform, and that live performances have a power and
veracity that few, if any studio recordings can attain.”
Thus an
audio recording facility was installed in autumn 2003 and a professional
visual recording system (3 remotely controlled cameras) in 2004. Ian continues
“The audio was straightforward, with a superb Soundfield microphone,
but we had a learning curve on the visual side. It is probably the only
beautiful, acoustically attractive, permanent DVD recording facility anywhere.
Given the high proportion of inspired performances, we now have a remarkable
portfolio of sound and video recordings waiting for release on MP3, CD
and DVD. Pristine Audio Direct, whose studio is close by, has provided
an impetus to release the jewels.”
Artist
who have performed in 2006 include Steven Isserlis, Stephen Hough, Yevgeny
Sudbin, Louis Lortie and David Geringas.
“For
intimacy and immediacy the best musical holiday-making anywhere.”
Robin Young, The Times
“Many
musicians would imagine this only in their dreams!” Freddy Kempff
“An
inspirational experience with music-making of truly exceptional quality.
Chamber music does not get better than this. Le Faure provides the perfect
environment.” David Barker (15 times client)
Pristine Classical - bringing you DRM-free classical MP3 downloads
FAQ
FLAC downloads use lossless compression - when replayed or transferred to disc they are bit- identical to original recordings.
16 BIT files are at full CD resolution, identical to our CD masters.
24 BIT files are at higher, studio master resolution, identical to our finished master files.
Please ensure you can play our 24 bit FLAC files before purchase - try our test files here.
Not all media players support FLAC yet, so you may need to convert to WAV or AIFF before playback. See our FLAC help guide
FLAC downloads come as a series of tracks in a ZIP archive file.
Our MP3 files are encoded at very high variable bitrates using the LAME encoder, widely regarded as the offering the best sound quality
Each recording is presented as a single, long MP3 which can be split using the CUE sheet at the bottom of the page, adding track titles and other information.
CD writing programs such as Nero and Burrrn can write these files directly to CD with all track information added using MP3+CUE - see our tutorial
Alternatively a cue splitter program can automatically cut and name the MP3 into individual MP3 tracks
There are also media players which use the MP3+CUE system, allowing gapless playback of all long MP3 files - essential for opera and many other classical works
Save money when you buy several downloads together by using the following discount codes in the shopping cart:
Buy 5 or more - save 10%: Code: 85187052
Buy 10 or more - save 20%: Code: 12W07104
How To Use: Once you've made your selections, copy the correct code into the space marked Discount or Coupon Code in your shopping cart, then click the Update Cart button to apply the discount before heading to the checkout.
N.B. These discounts apply to all our FLAC and MP3 downloads only. Discounts do not apply to CD purchases
Our CDs are made to order on highest quality Taiyo Yuden Watershield CD-R discs, recorded directly from our master files
CDs are shipped worldwide by Air Mail from France. The price here includes all shipping costs - there are no hidden extras
Standard and Premium CDs hold the same quality of audio - the Standard CD comes in a slip case with no covers, the Premium comes in a jewel case with printed covers
Each music page has PDF covers for printing out at home
They can be found by clicking on cover artwork or scrolling to the bottom of the page
Always deselect any resizing options in the print dialogue of Adobe Reader before printing to ensure correct cover sizes
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You can pay by credit card directly with PayPal acting merely as a secure card payment processing facility
You can use a PayPal account for quicker, easier and totally secure payments
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The
Orpheus & Bacchus Music Festival was launched in 1999 in the Gironde,
France, by Ian Christians, whose past has mixed top executive positions
with a variety of entrepreneurial classical music activities. The same
year an ancient former wine estate, Le Faure, possessing a potentially
superb music salon, was purchased and after a massive restoration project
the first concerts were given there in 2003. 
