Forty La Bohemes for ten bucks?

I resisted Spotify for years. Years, I tell you. I found their classical music to be spotty at best. I would search for Tannhauser and Placido Domingo and get all kinds of crazy unrelated items even though my friend assured me that that specific recording was in there somewhere.

I was lured into trying Spotify again when they had their little spat with Taylor Swift. I’m not sure why that incident compelled me but I was blown away by the classical selections this time.

Even at this moment I am listening to said recording of Tannhauser, even if it is just the highlights and not the entire recording.

I did a search for La Boheme and there are over 40 complete recordings of the opera. As I scrolled down, I was impressed with not just the number of recordings but the quality of the historical selections.

I quickly realized that here was an opportunity to explore La Boheme on an unprecedented level. 40 recordings would cost at least $400 but I can pay $10 per month instead? Done.

I’ve found some excellent music while searching for other things as well. I was wanting Gustav Holsts’ arrangement of Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence, which wasn’t on there, but I found his setting of texts from the Hindu [Rig Veda][1].

What? A British composer using a Hindu text during The Empire? Very interesting.

Not all is perfect on Spotify. The transformation scene from von Karajan’s recording of Parsifal is missing. The scene happens at the end of disc one of four and the track is missing on Spotify. From what I can see there is no handy link to report such issues.