Google teams up with orchestras to target classical music
 

Dubbed Classical Live, the initiative will offer exclusive recordings through the Internet giant`s Google Play service from orchestras including the New York Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestra. Also involved are the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, with Google hoping eventually to invite further participants.

Classical Live is "hoping to broaden and grow the audience for classical music, which is exactly synonymous with our ambitions, making great music available to the widest group of people," said Kathryn McDowell, the managing director of the London Symphony Orchestra.

McDowell noticed that previous digital works have often been downloaded track by track rather than as a whole -- evidence, she said, that the audience consists of newcomers exploring classical music.