Need some metadata help (composition/work) with an unidentified album

[Jim_Austin]

Album in question is a download from Pristine Classical, Janos Starker and Abba Bogin playing the Brahms Cello Sonatas (#1 and #2). This was recorded in 1952 and release (I think) in 1954; it is not the 1960s version one finds on (eg) Discogs. It was, however, released as an LP; the copies I’ve seen are on the Period label. (Interesting label. Issued Django and Vivaldi, starting no later than 1950. Name sounds like a historic reissue label, but it isn’t.) Anyway, Roon can’t identify it. I’m not surprised, since I don’t see it listed at Discogs or Allmusic. (Weirdly, Allmusic.com has nothing for Starker before 1979.) Anyway, I’ve given up on identifying it for the present. I’m just trying to deal with the consequences and handle the metadata myself.

When I first set up my digital library, I did a lot of metadata work. But I’ve done far less since, and I’ve lost my touch. When I open the directory containing this music in mp3tag, I don’t see a composition field, or a “work” field, or anything similar. So that’s my question: I need to know how to define the two individual works separately. mp3tag offers me the opportunity to create my own tag–but is that what I want to do? Seems there ought to already be a tag associated with the FLAC file that I’m not able to access. Should I just create my own new tag and call it “Composition”?

If you’re wondering why Pristine Classical didn’t do a better job with metadata–my memory says that when I downloaded these files long ago, they were separate downloads. Currently they’re sold as a single album.

Thanks.

[joel]

Hi Jim.

For each file, you need to create a WORK (or COMPOSITION) tag and a PART (or MOVEMENT) tag.

The WORK tag for each of the files which are part of the work/composition must be identical.
The PART tag for each file should contain whatever you want Roon to display in the multi-part grouping.

For example, borrowing from a similar Discogs release:

WORK = “Sonata For Cello And Piano No 1 In F Minor, Op. 38”; PART = “1. Allegro Non Troppo”
WORK = “Sonata For Cello And Piano No 1 In F Minor, Op. 38”; PART = “2. Allegretto Quasi Menuetto”
WORK = “Sonata For Cello And Piano No 1 In F Minor, Op. 38”; PART = “3. Allegro”

WORK = “Sonata For Cello And Piano No 2 In F, Op. 99”; PART = 1. Allegro Vivace"
WORK = “Sonata For Cello And Piano No 2 In F, Op. 99”; PART = 2. Adagio Affettuoso"
WORK = “Sonata For Cello And Piano No 2 In F, Op. 99”; PART = 3. Allegro Passionato"
WORK = “Sonata For Cello And Piano No 2 In F, Op. 99”; PART = 4. Allegro Molto"

Note that if the album is identified by Roon (though it doesn’t sound as if it is), you would also need to override the Roon work/part groupings by selecting “Prefer Roon” for “Multi-Part Composition Grouping” in the Album Editor.

[Jim_Austin]

Perfect, thanks.

[Jim_Austin]

Editing what I just posted to note that I just had to rescan the album. (I thought closing and restarting Roon would suffice.) With album rescanned, things look good. Thanks.