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Apple launches its new classical music streaming app for pre-order

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Re: Apple launches its new classical music streaming app for pre-order

#21

This is fantastic, classical music absolutely needs a dedicated interface since the organization by composer and multi-movement works is so different from popular music. But I wonder if it will help with finding which version of a work to listen to. A given symphony or piano prelude might have 100 or more recordings. If you go to classical music forum postings, you can usually find a thread asking "what's your favori…

> This is fantastic, classical music absolutely needs a dedicated interface since the organization by composer and multi-movement works is so different from popular music.

So this is true for how people organize popular music, but I can't help but think the classical music model is better and even pop music fans might benefit from having an information model for their music that is more in line with how classical music is organized.

Pop music seems to short-shrift the songwriters and other people who work in the background (at least when it comes to credit, if not always money). And some live-music focused acts, like jam bands, would probably seriously benefit from tracking performances in the same way. I know Phish fans, for example, usually end up tracking their favorite recordings, performances, and dates by filename in similar ways to classical music fans. And the models used by standard music and streaming applications don't fit them very well either.

Re: Apple launches its new classical music streaming app for pre-order

#24

This is fantastic, classical music absolutely needs a dedicated interface since the organization by composer and multi-movement works is so different from popular music. But I wonder if it will help with finding which version of a work to listen to. A given symphony or piano prelude might have 100 or more recordings. If you go to classical music forum postings, you can usually find a thread asking "what's your favori…

Do you have an accessible example for two different recordings of a composition that each shine in their own light?

The main difference (to my untrained ear) is usually interpretation of tempo

Take Rachmaninoff's Cello Sonata Op. 19, 2nd movement

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT9qe_euX8g (Sheku & Isata)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fZwD-Jq554 (Ax & Yo Yo Ma)

Re: Apple launches its new classical music streaming app for pre-order

#25
post #5

This is fantastic, classical music absolutely needs a dedicated interface since the organization by composer and multi-movement works is so different from popular music. But I wonder if it will help with finding which version of a work to listen to. A given symphony or piano prelude might have 100 or more recordings. If you go to classical music forum postings, you can usually find a thread asking "what's your favori…

I've noticed there's a problem on streaming services where low quality artists basically spam the service with extremely low quality recordings of classical pieces. They often sound like they just got a midi file of the score and played it back through a piece of software. The scores for most classical music are public domain so there is nothing "wrong" about this but no one really wants to listen to low quality MIDI…

Apple Music actually has a lot of human editors and curators controlling playlists and spotlighting featured music. I'm sure their classical service will be similar.

Re: Apple launches its new classical music streaming app for pre-order

#26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have an accessible example for two different recordings of a composition that each shine in their own light?

Goldberg variations comes to mind. If you search for it on your music service you will without a doubt be presented with Glenn Gould famous interpretation from 1955 where he eccentrically hums you through. You can then listen other renditions and you will notice they are quite different (foreinstance Fazil Say or Lang Lang)

I happened to be listening to Fazil Say's variations when I read your comment. I can't recommend them highly enough; they're a delight.

Re: Apple launches its new classical music streaming app for pre-order

#29
post #6

This is fantastic, classical music absolutely needs a dedicated interface since the organization by composer and multi-movement works is so different from popular music. But I wonder if it will help with finding which version of a work to listen to. A given symphony or piano prelude might have 100 or more recordings. If you go to classical music forum postings, you can usually find a thread asking "what's your favori…

This is 100% accurate. Classical music is just different from other music in too many ways to make them work well in the same UI. I have yet to see a UI that does it well, so I'm looking forward to seeing Apple's stab at it. Generally you can't go wrong with Deutsche Grammophon, or Hyperion, or even Telarc, but there sure are some stinkers out there, labels just trying to have a large catalog of any quality. And some…

I am not into classical music, but I think there are similarities for fans of jam bands especially the grateful dead. Ive never heard a group so passionate about specific versions of song depending on the date/location.

I feel UI designers could make something work but its such a niche group of people its hard to spend resources designing and maintaining a catalog of recordings of different versions of the same song.

Re: Apple launches its new classical music streaming app for pre-order

#30
post #6

This is fantastic, classical music absolutely needs a dedicated interface since the organization by composer and multi-movement works is so different from popular music. But I wonder if it will help with finding which version of a work to listen to. A given symphony or piano prelude might have 100 or more recordings. If you go to classical music forum postings, you can usually find a thread asking "what's your favori…

This is 100% accurate. Classical music is just different from other music in too many ways to make them work well in the same UI. I have yet to see a UI that does it well, so I'm looking forward to seeing Apple's stab at it. Generally you can't go wrong with Deutsche Grammophon, or Hyperion, or even Telarc, but there sure are some stinkers out there, labels just trying to have a large catalog of any quality. And some…

Anybody else tried the Stage+ app from Deutsche Grammophon?

https://www.stage-plus.com/

The player is kinda crappy. The content quality is quite good though, lossless and such. The selection is excellent.

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