Itunes has now made the Kupfer Ring available to download - see here. Now, while there are certainly benefits for the impatient in buying it in this form, we believe it would be difficult to recommend it. This is not because of the production itself - one that we much admire here at Wagnerian Towers - but simply because of pure economics. You see, the cost of the entire cycle on Itunes would amount to just under £50. Admittedly, not a great sum for such a huge and wonderful work and production. However, considering that the entire set can be bought from Amazon - as an example - in physical form, in a box and with some, admittedly limited notes, for only £27 we cannot understand how Itunes can justify this inflated pricing.
Yet again, more evidence of how publishers and distributors seem to assume that classical music consumers in particular are either stupid or ill informed - it might suggest. Digital distribution contains far lower overheads then physical distribution methods and we feel this should be reflected in the pricing. See for example, how a smaller company, Filmgalerie 451, distrbute Sybergerg's Parsifal: £2.99 to stream, £4.99 to download and £24 to buy on DVD (See here for details).
But we shall of course leave the decision upto you.
