The American music web magazine Zeitschichten.com has just released an interview to Alessandro Simonetto, founder of OnClassical. The interview, conducted by Matthias Roeder, focuses on issues related to the advantages of publishing on onclassical.com and the future music online.

Zeitschichten.com: Your recording label OnClassical distributes its recordings solely via the internet. The music can be downloaded in .wav format without any copy protection (DRM-free). What brought you to this unusual business model?

Alessandro Simonetto: I have always thought that trust in the buyer is a great way to get respect from them. In this sense the philosophy of Creative Commons was a pleasant discovery and confirmation, so that control no longer depends on such entities as the royalty societies and other authorities, but on the artists themselves. With respect to OnClassical, it also means replacing the interest of the many (very often these are small record labels, agents, or producers) with the interest of the individual, because the interests of the many limits the artist in every way. So, in the end, it is the artist who benefits the most.

You may read the whole piece here.

We are pleased to announce that OnClassical has received funds to be able to finance up to ten new recordings. Our announcement was launched to Italians young pianists (no more than 30 yo.) via facebook and via email, and we have so far received many very interesting proposals. We will have details on it very soon!

The complete packaging of the 1st OnClassical collection, including booklet, inlay card and cd-label, is now available here in high quality.

You may, of course, use it for free. Enjoy!

We are proud to introduce to you pianist, Antonio Palareti through his only available recording: The Art of Fugue. This version of the masterwork by Johann Sebastian Bach is the posthumous one published in 1751, and it consists of 14 fugues (the last of them unfinished) and 4 2-voice canons.

During a significant period, Antonio Palareti travelled within Italy and abroad, often accompanied by music critic and historian Piero Buscaroli (who has written for Mondadori the colossal biography dedicated to J.S. Bach), playing the Art by memory and creating dynamic energy and attention amongst all types of audiences.

This recording, made on a brand new Steinway & Son's 9-foot piano, is now available on onclassical.com in two different albums (for a total of about 90 minutes): first and second album.

Album playlists:

#1 Play it Details (Contrapunctus I-XI)
#2 Play it Details (Contrapunctus XII-XIV + 4 2-voice Canons)