I initially thought that compositions not being identified was a problem on larger libraries. But I am trying to build a smaller more selective travel library and what I am finding of course is that compositions not being identified is a much bigger problem in smaller libraries. It’s a big deal if you only have one performance and roon hasn’t identified it.
In a larger library, roon not identifying a performance is annoying, not so life and death. What I find, though, is a different problem. I want to group all my performances but I don’t necessarily want them all called the same thing. For example I have both flute and oboe versions of the Mozart Flute Concerto 2. But roon just calls all versions Mozart Flute Concerto 2. I cannot “prefer” my own files different distinguishing titles. Again, roon is not actually helping me very much and I have to rely on my memory to know the difference. I had to raise a support ticket:
Like you, with some favorite works I have been astonished to find I might have 20 or more performances. Performances are often hidden on large box sets that I didn’t even know I had. Roon can be great at finding them but then I want to know that I have both Haas and Nowak scoring’s of Bruckner 4 for example and they shouldn’t just be called the same thing as now I don’t have any idea which is which.
I find this all the time. It is not just instrumentation and scoring. It’s also orchestration. A very famous example is Fauré’s Pavane. There is the basic distinction between the piano and orchestrated versions, but there are many other transcriptions as well:
Roon seems to be aware of both piano and orchestrated versions but it is totally hit and miss under which composition roon will group your performances. Personally I want to be able to group them all as the same composition so that I can explore and shuffle, but I don’t want them all called the same thing.
I find this all over my library. There are so many examples. For example, I have a lot of complete operas but I also have highlights without the recitative. Often it’s exactly the same performance. date, conductor, ensemble, everything. But I want to be able to both distinguish them and group them as the same composition. It’s the same with complete ballets and orchestrated suites. There are Liszt piano transcriptions of Beethoven symphonies. Half the classical guitar repertoire are piano transcriptions, (think Albeniz), or lute and violin transcriptions (think Bach). I have lost count of the number of viola vs. clarinet versions I have.
The other main weakness in classical handling is a very crude dependence on genre, when classical is very dependent on period (Baroque vs. Classical), style (Romantic vs. Tonal), form (Sonata vs. Concerto), instrumentation (already mentioned), recording (Suite/Selection vs. Full). A lot of this detail is available on the composition screen. But I cannot edit these fields where roon frequently get’s it wrong as once you start drilling down into this level of detail the public meta data suppliers just fall apart at the seams.
PS. I don’t know what the roon user base split Pop/Classical is. But roon did mention that there are very few larger libraries, really a handful, where most of the meta data issues are occurring. I think this is an interesting use case as a lot of the worse side effects happen with smaller libraries. My personal view is that roon are within striking distance of a truely outstanding classical product and it would be a great shame if they cannot find a business case to make a few final steps.