Classical Music Fan Settles for Live Streams
古典樂迷靠直播串流解饞
By Michael Cooper

My first summer covering classical music was shaping up as a colossal failure. I had not persuaded the bosses to send me to the Aix-en-Provence Festival to imbibed Bach, nor the Salzburg Festival, to retrace the footsteps of Mozart. It seemed like a good moment to try streaming.
我的第一次古典樂夏季採訪工作眼看就要砸鍋。我並未說服上司派我去艾克斯普羅旺斯音樂節聆賞巴哈，或薩爾茲堡音樂節探尋莫札特的足跡。這似乎是嘗試串流的好機會。

During a summer of armchair travels through the classical music world, I was able to watch “Trauernacht,” Katie Mitchell’s somber modern staging of Bach cantatas in Aix, check out Anna Netrebko and a baritonal Plácido Domingo in the new production of Verdi’s “Il Trovatore” at Salzburg, and hear the rising young tenor Michael Fabiano sing Alfredo in Verdi’s “La Traviata” from Glyndebourne.
夏天坐在扶手椅上遍遊古典樂世界的過程中，我得以欣賞凱蒂．米契爾在艾克斯普羅旺斯音樂節中導演的巴哈清唱劇「天使之手」憂鬱現代版，在薩爾茲堡音樂節的威爾第「遊唱詩人」新版演出中，看看女高音安娜．涅特瑞布科與演唱男中音的多明哥如何表現，同時聆賞新秀男高音法比安諾在格林德波恩音樂節中飾演威爾第「茶花女」中的艾佛烈多。

But while it has become remarkably easy to watch these performances on my computer, things can get a bit trickier if you would rather enjoy your operas and symphonies on television.
對我來說，透過電腦欣賞這些表演已經變得很輕鬆。然而如果想透過電視欣賞喜愛的歌劇與交響樂，可能會有點麻煩。

The approach that opera houses, orchestras and web services are taking as they experiment with streaming sometimes seems like it might require a million devices to get the best experience from each one. It all makes one long for some Netflix-like behemoth that could easily stream works to all devices.
歌劇院、交響樂團與網路服務實驗串流所使用的方法可能會讓人覺得，必須動用上百萬個裝置才會讓人得到最好的經驗。這一切足以令人渴望能有類似Netflix的影音串流巨擘，輕而易舉的將各種作品串流到全部裝置上。

The closest thing to a classical Netflix may be Medici.tv, a website that was my ticket to the festivals at Verbier in Switzerland, Aix and Salzburg. It offers webcasts of around 100 live performances a year; they are free when live, and for up to 90 days afterward. Then they can be seen by subscribers who pay from $100 to $150 a year for on-demand access to an archive of some 1,400 musical offerings.
最接近古典樂版Netflix的可能是Medici.tv。這個網站是我通往瑞士韋爾比亞、艾克斯普羅旺斯與薩爾茲堡音樂節的入口。它一年約提供100場現場網路直播。現場直播時及結束後的90天內全都免費欣賞。在此之後，每年繳交100到150美元會費的訂戶可以隨選欣賞大約1400場的存檔演出。

For decades, classical music was at the forefront of technological innovation. The popularity of Enrico Caruso’s early recordings helped build the fledgling record industry. Radio stations broadcast symphonic concerts from the early 1920s on. Long-playing records were seen from the beginning as well-suited to longer, classical works.
數十年來，古典音樂始終站在科技創新的最前端。義大利男高音卡羅素早期灌錄的唱片大賣，讓當時剛興起的唱片產業站穩了腳步。1920年代初，電台開始播放古典音樂。人們一開始就認為，黑膠唱片非常適合比較長的古典音樂。

But early versions of iTunes, while great for storing and sorting singles, sometimes had a hard time figuring out that Act II of an opera should follow Act I.
初期的iTune很適合貯存並分類單曲，有時候卻很難明白，一齣歌劇的第二幕應該緊隨第一幕之後。

The streaming era seems more promising. Services like Spotify offer an astonishing number of recordings. Coming home one night after hearing Kristine Opolais sing “Madama Butterfly” at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, I opened the Spotify app and was able to hear recordings of Maria Callas, Renata Tebaldi, Mirella Freni and Renata Scotto singing the role.
串流的時代似乎更有前途。Spotify之類的音樂串流服務提供數量驚人的存檔錄音。某夜在紐約大都會歌劇院聆賞拉脫維亞女高音克莉絲汀．歐波萊斯演唱「蝴蝶夫人」一角後，我回到住處連結Spotify，繼續欣賞希臘裔美籍女高音瑪莉亞．卡拉絲、義大利女高音蕾娜妲．提芭蒂、米蕾拉．芙蕾妮、蕾娜塔．史科朵等人的精湛唱腔。

Now leading opera houses and orchestras are getting in on the streaming act, on their own.
如今，一些最知名的歌劇院與樂團已經相繼搭上串流列車，而且自力為之。

The Berlin Philharmonic’s Digital Concert Hall offers live concert as well as an archive of more than 250 performances. Subscriptions run from $13 a week to almost $200 a year.
柏林愛樂交響樂團的數位音樂廳為樂迷提供現場演出及逾250場的存檔演出。會費從每周13美元到一年將近200美元不等。

And Met Opera on Demand offers nearly 150 videos and more than 360 audio recordings of operas at the Met for $14.99 a month, or $149.99 a year.
紐約大都會歌劇院的Met Opera on Demand提供在該歌劇院錄製的近150場錄影與逾360場錄音演出，月費14.99美元，年費149.99美元。

All in all, it was a pretty good summer of streaming symphonies. But of course there is nothing like the real thing.
整體而言，這是一次非常好的串流交響樂之夏。不過，現場演出的魅力還是沒得比。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/24/arts/music/an-opera-lover-tests-streaming-services.html

2014-09-02聯合報/G5版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS 陳世欽譯 原文參見紐時週報十二版下