Classical: A Compilation

A much needed initiative. Thank you!

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2 posts were split to a new topic: BBC through Roon

4 posts were split to a new topic: Sorting Bookmarks

A post was merged into an existing topic: BBC through Roon

Edited in a paragraph about Work grouping in Radio and Playlists.

Another thing which bothers me regularly and of which I got reminded by this thread:

Enhanced WORKID capabilities

The WORKID tag should also be able to clamp parts of a performance together on an album. See also Not consecutively appearing multi-part works and performance count

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Yes, this is an interesting one. It is another case where digital offers different listening scenarios than the analogue one of just playing the album through. So when playing the album through I would want to listen to the non-continuous work as the artist intended. But when browsing compositions I would like the option instead of playing the composition through without the inserts.

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Yes, all my collection is filed as Artist = Composer. Are you trying to force a different filing structure?

Nope, I just add the composer as primary artist (within Roon, not in tags) to the album. I do this so that on the roon artistpage of a composer the album is listed.

I am really glad you are doing this. I don’t fully understand all of what you are describing but I would like to share some requests from a “user perspective.” I apologize if I am restating some things you have described.

(1) Multi-channel and Stereo Recordings. I have a multi-channel DAC and a stereo DAC. I have become interested in comparing multichannel and stereo versions of the same recording. I have purchased some NativeDSD downloads in both formats and loaded them into my Roon library.

Roon seems to either ignore one of the versions or use an identical tag for both versions. Because my labelling (which specifies MC or 2Ch), it is difficult to tell which is which. I would like to easily view both versions, side by side, rather than to try to investigate what happened to the missing one or which one is the one I am looking for. This “experiment” has become unnecessarily difficult.

I would also like to do a search of multichannel recordings only (i.e., without stereo recordings being included in the search) and vice versa. This would be helpful for when I am listening to music with my multichannel system as well as with my stereo system (located in a different area of my home).

(2) Composer, Conductor, Orchestra/band searches. I would also like to be able to search by composer, conductor, or orchestra/band in the same manner we are now able to search by artist and album. This ability would also be attractive for other types of music as well.

(3) Album labeling. I would also like to have the option of viewing entire albums as they were published (i.e., with all of the tracks) and viewing a particular piece (e.g., a 4 part symphony) without the other tracks on the album. This would be also very useful when I want to hear a particular symphony and would like to select among a number of conductors or orchestras/bands.

An alternative might be to have a composition listing, which would be for all of the parts of selected works my collection. For instance, I could select “Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7” and see all of my recordings of that symphony (including recordings with only some of the parts – although some notation about this would be helpful), without the other pieces that might have appeared on the same album.

Thanks again for doing this. It looks like you have put a lot of effort into this. I am very grateful.

There are many ways to skin the Roon cat …

I am sure you’ve found this route but if not …

The Composition view allows a filter on Composer, enter Bruckner , now enter Symphony in the composition filter and you get a list ( it supports part matches eg Symp will do)

Select, even bookmark it
Tap to show all recordings

It’s a pain I agree but specific composer group of works the only issue is when Roon doesn’t ID the album , you often get missed recordings which in a big library you may not even notice !

For conductors and orchestras, try the Album view Focus, Performer button , it mostly works

Bookmark is a good function, I have started with big boys , Beethoven etc

Album View Focus, select composer bookmark

Sorry if I’m teaching to suck eggs

These features would be better if built in. The baggy for me is the Composer view should show albums not works, the Composition view does that already

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Ps when you start creating Bookmarks you’ll see the bookmark browser is missing , it’s just a drop down which with lots of bookmarks is wanting

I suspect that you have got the “Show Hidden Tracks an Albums” (under Settings/General) turned off (this is the default). This will only show what you choose to be the Primary version of duplicate albums in the Album Browser. You could turn in on; but you could also use the Focus/Inspector/Duplicate feature to directly show all duplicates in your library. And if you have the "Show album format on browser turned on (on the same Settings/General page) turned on, you will see the formats clearly marked; like so:

You’ll perhaps also notice that some duplicate albums are marked Binaural or Stereo - that’s been done using the Version tag in Roon.

You can do this with Focus. Go to your Album view, hit Focus, scroll to the far right and there’s a “format” option in which you can select number of channels.

I want a sort by Composer more than any other feature.

Most of my albums are opera and classical. If I want to browse to choose an opera to listen to (for example) I will want to sort by Composer so all Puccini or Verdi or Wagner or Rossini operas will sort together and then by title. Same with orchestral works. I would want all Beethoven together, all Mozart together and so on.

I also might want to sort by Conductor. Suppose I want to listen to everything conducted by Herbert von Karajan. Or Leonard Bernstein.

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Is that sort by or a better search so you can find Karajan for example?

Mike –

Thanks for the suggestion. At this point, sucking eggs is better than the other option.

It is a pretty cool way to access Classical/Symphonic music until Roon provides a better way.

It is definitely better than the approach I was using.

I have also noticed the there is a “version” option when you select an album. I have been able to see MC and stereo versions of the same recording about half of the time. I am beginning to try to figure out how Roon finds some and not others.

John

The version tab in an album shows you different versions of the same cd, eg hi res, std cd etc, as well as Tidal, and now Qobuz

If you look at the header for a work you may see a number , that is alternate performances of that work by different artists, tap the number and you will see them all

[quote=“andybob, post:1, topic:55957”]
My comments to Andrew’s suggestions below:

CONTENT

Classical/Non-Classical/All switch
Provide a toggleable icon in all Browsers for Classical, Non-Classical or All. Classical only switches are currently available in Composers and Compositions (albeit with inconsistent UI) and other Browsers can use Focus to do it. But it is such a common sorting requirement that I would suggest a 3 way toggleable icon common to all Browsers. I like this idea

Primary Artist/Composer
Albums with Classical genre should have two groups of blue links under the title. The first for Primary Artist. The second for Composer. Composers should only be Primary Artists if they have a Performer or Conductor credit. I know some metadata providers do this differently. They are wrong and the tail should not wag the dog. Another excellent idea.

Album and Track Browser: Sort by Composer
Whether limited to Classical only or not, “Sort by Composer” is a natural filter for Classical. I agree

Composer/Compositions: Form Focus
The Composer/Compositions screen should have the same Focus tools as the Compositions Browser. Particularly Form. At the moment this screen is very hard to navigate for major Composers.

Prescribed Titles
The metadata for Classical Albums will vary according to Performers etc. but the titles of Compositions, whether Works or Parts, should be standardised and ubiquitous. Roon should, by default, pick a metadata convention winner and apply it, regardless of variation between publishers and metadata providers. Users can always opt out by album or import preference.this is very important, as I strive for consistency with works

Box Sets
The Disk No. reference doesn’t provide sufficient visibility of the content. Users have to peck and hunt, or know where to find something within the box set. Ideally users would be able to see a description of the contents by disk in the Album view of the set, rather than a Track listing of the first Disk. Where the set consists of separately published Albums, separate artwork for each disk should be supported. Box sets need a lot of work. I would like the ability to assign individual cover art to each album in a box set. I would also like the ability to show front and back covers.

ROONTAG (NAMEOFTAG)
Although not limited to Classical, the ability to specify a file tag for Albums or Tracks which would then add said Albums or Tracks into a Roon Tag would assist a lot of Classical curators to import their existing folder or file structures into Roon. ROONRADIOBAN has paved the way. This is a great idea – custom file tags are important for classical music

Ability to customize the now playing screen to add whatever information and cover art serves my purposes. You can do this in JRiver.

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If only Roon had a sensible way to distinguish between classical and non-classical.