Presto Music Download
Lorin Mandaloniz
The third edition of Piano Time, piano music by Robert Schumann and Fanny Hensel, music from Final Fantasy games and Studio Ghibli films, Britten's A Ceremony of Carols in French, new Rockschool publications, and string orchestra works from Henle.
The Bashkortostan-born mezzo turns in finely-characterised snapshots of Carmen, Rosina, Cenerentola, Charlotte and Romeo, with a multi-hued voice that glows from top to bottom and atmospheric support from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on top form under Daniele Rustioni.
A collection of chamber works by the Australian-born composer Jane Stanley, Paganini and The Butterfly Lovers Concerto from Chloe Chua, Smetana's complete operas on Supraphon, and (on DVD/Blu-ray) Wagner's Gtterdmmerung from Christian Thielemann and Dmitri Tcherniakov in Berlin.
The conductor discusses his acclaimed series of canticle recordings with the Choir of St John's College Cambridge on Signum Classics, and reflects on his recent move to Westminster Abbey (where he has served as Organist and Master of the Choristers since the beginning of last year).
Choosing to play Renaissance keyboard repertoire on the piano is a brave choice - especially for an emerging talent making their debut on Hyperion, a label famed for having a roster of fine pianists. Mishka Rushdie Momen discusses why she did exactly this, and some of the things that shape her as a musician.
Yesterday Presto started to promote their own streamer box which seems to offer what is basically a Connect-type service and the box can be connected to your hifi either by an analog or optical cable. It costs about 70 for the streamer.
I see that the Bluesound node has this on board. Looking at the presto site it seems more classical than jazz though. Is that correct? I may take up their free trial offer to see how their jazz content plays.
Well I have connected the Presto streamer up and got it going. But the setup was somewhat different to what the instructions described. In particular it took maybe two minutes for the streamer to show up in my list of devices, not 10 seconds as they said.
Playing the same file through the Presto app with my iPhone on the same WiFi network and in the same location as the streamer works fine, but when the Presto streamer plays it, I get frequent pauses while it buffers.
The streamer itself is a small black box, 95mm x 53mm x 18 mm. It has the power socket, a 3.5mm analogue socket and a Toslink optical socket. There is a button which can be used with a router that has a WPS button for setup and also by pressing it longer, for reset. There is an almost invisible blue status light.
My hearing is not good enough these days for me to be able to comment on sound quality at all critically and people who follow what I write here on the forum may have noticed that I almost never say anything about sound quality. But to me this streamer sounds excellent. Also I am very sensitive to unwanted distortion and I am not hearing any at all. It all sounds very clean to me.
Anyway my overall conclusion is that this is excellent value and does exactly what you hope for almost no money, a lot less than a BlueSound Node for example. Whether the Presto app suits you is something you have to decide for yourself. But personally it does suit me and I am very pleased with the whole thing.
Yes exactly as @Mr.M says. The app works very well on my iPhone and streams directly into my hearing aids, but for people lucky enough not to use hearing aids then you can enhance an iPhone substantially with an Audioquest Dragonfly DAC/headphone amplifier. Or alternatively the Apple AirPod Pro 2 is pretty impressive imho.
Chris, did the Jazz catalog seem any stronger than the Qobuz Jazz catalog or the Tidal jazz catalog? I am wondering if there will be any benefit to having both. I listen about 90% to jazz. I now have both Tidal and Qobuz accessed thru Roon. The other issue would be getting the output to HQP. Thanks for the good review.
This move makes it evident to me that Presto can't make a go of it selling physical discs and downloads (which is too bad, because I like them). But if the market becomes fragmented by download and physical disc companies all moving into streaming, how many streaming companies other than the very largest/richest (Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music) will survive? Those companies aren't streaming or selling in hi-res. Would they have any incentive to start?
I certainly hear you, but we really don't know much about much. A business that expands, doesn't mean its existing business isn't viable. Perhaps Presto sees a market that needs to be super served and this is a step in that direction. Who knows. We also have no clue about Presto's arrangements with OraStream or the labels etc...
From my prior work with Frankie, I know that he used a local CDN (such as AWS) to stream the actual music. OraStream is the software platform used to accomplish this. The only connection to Singapore is that he and Kelvin live there and the company is incorporated there. Orastream is also the platform for at least two other streaming services. I believe that the choice of CDN is dictated by the terms of the contract with the streaming service. The days of any streaming service trying to stream from some far distant location are over. I did not really work well that way. It is true that in the very early days some streamers, such as Qobuz for example, tried to stream from a central server. I remember all the problems I had with dropouts and other issues as a beta tester in those days. The last research I read showed that to achieve reliability one needed to be no more than 300 miles on average from the server site. This is one of the reasons that streaming services limit the countries they serve. If a reliable CDN is not available, they cannot guarantee reliable service. There are of course other reasons but this is definitely one of the main ones.
I also don't know, but I'm guessing there's an audience for a streaming service targeting the classical (and also jazz) market that: a) has a good selection; b) album booklets; c) good search - the kind classical lovers like.
The overall Classical market is probably something like 1-5% of the market (a bit more in some countries like Germany), but worldwide it's a large number of potential listeners - and listeners who are willing to spend money - unlike the more pop oriented services, where people either want it free or whose purchasing is tightly self- capped at $9.99 a month.
Let's put this in perspective... I know at some point you have to say enough $$ is enough, but I subscribe to Tidal and Qobuz and look at it this way. Before streaming became mainstream I spent $100's of dollars every month to buy new and used CDs. That got me a dozen or so new to me albums some of which I really didn't care for and never listened to again. I probably spent more on gas and wear/tear to drive my car to the record store than I pay for streaming
Now for about $30 a month I have access to MILLIONS of songs in the same or higher resolution. Many of the same who happily pay $10 a day for a Starbucks coffee complain about paying $1 a day for access to millions of songs.
Not that ecwl was complaining, but those that do complain about paying this amount a month for basically an unlimited amount of music are just a bunch of whiners. I have lost more $$ buying/selling a single high end item than I spend in a few years on streaming. If you think you might like it, sign up.. you can always cancel later. If you spend more than a few minutes a day listening to these streams you are getting your money's worth.
"Presto" is an Italian musical term that translates to "very fast" in English. It is a tempo marking used to indicate that the music should be performed at a very rapid and brisk pace, conveying a sense of speed, excitement, and urgency. It is usually played at a tempo of 168 to 200 beats per minute.
"Presto" is a tempo indication that guides the performer in terms of the speed and character of a piece of music. It signifies that the music should be played at a very fast tempo, conveying a feeling of rapid movement and intensity. This marking is often represented on sheet music as the word "presto".
When encountering a "Presto" marking, performers are expected to play at an extremely rapid and brisk tempo, capturing the sense of urgency and excitement within the music. This tempo choice creates an exhilarating and dynamic musical atmosphere, propelling the music forward with a sense of speed and intensity.
The "Presto" tempo marking challenges performers to demonstrate technical skill, precision, and control, as playing at such a rapid pace requires dexterity and agility. The music's rhythmic patterns, melodic lines, and dynamic contrasts become more pronounced and demanding.
Interpreting "Presto" requires performers to maintain a highly energetic and rapid tempo, capturing the essence of urgency and excitement. The music should feel exhilarating and intense, with melodies and rhythms that race forward with a sense of urgency.
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