Tagging Classical for iTunes

[MN Dave]

Thanks, Keemun. That's pretty similar to what that article above suggests I think.

No one's worried about key signature, huh?

[gmstudio]

No one's worried about key signature, huh?

Definitely not, here.

[Mozart]

Ah, this is a personal question. I love how easy it is to manage tags with iTunes.

The I like to do it this way. I'll take Beethoven's 5th for example.

Title : Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 - I. Allegro con brio
Artist : Karajan, BPO    [or maybe a less abbreviated form]
Composer : Beethoven, Ludwig van (1770-1827)   [That's how I classify every composer]
Album : Beethoven: Symphonien 5 & 6  [or something]

I also use the "Genre" field to classify my music in periods. For example, this file would be in the "Late Classical" category. I use this tag to create dynamic playlists with iTunes for each different period or sub-period.

iTunes also allows auto-detects if the album should be played without gap and if the order of the movements should be shuffled or not (i like this for any multi-movement work, or sets of variations in separate files).

On my ipod, i generally browse music by composer, or by artist if i'm looking for a performer in particular. Voilà!

Must be a joke! Itunes can kiss my pale white ass!

[MN Dave]

Must be a joke! Itunes can kiss my pale white ass!

What are you talking about?

[Gurn Blanston]

To me the CD is just the vehicle to get the music into the system...once it's in iTunes, I don't care that it stays grouped by whatever "album" it came in on.  I have the 11 discs of the Divertimento & Serenades set, but they're all listed individually as independent works. I think the album system (for me) doesn't make any sense once the pieces are ripped from the CD. 

I agree with this idea, I also rarely ever leave the album name as it was ion Gracenote. Even though i don't use iTunes, the principle is the same. However many tracks constitute the work itself, those tracks I give the "album" name so they always stay together. Hell, what do I care if the original album was "Itzhak Perlman in Russia"? 



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Now playing:

Haydn Op 76 #1 - Takacs Quartet - Op 76 #1 Quartet in G for Strings 2nd mvmt - Adagio sostenuto

[gmstudio]

However many tracks constitute the work itself, those tracks I give the "album" name so they always stay together. Hell, what do I care if the original album was "Itzhak Perlman in Russia"? 

yes, precisely.

[Morigan]

Here's what my interface looks like...



]

[MN Dave]

I had a play list for each album. What was I thinking? 

So, now, who wants to re-tag all 17,000 of my tracks? 

[Morigan]

I had a play list for each album. What was I thinking? 

So, now, who wants to re-tag all 17,000 of my tracks? 

*pats you on the back* Have fun man. 

[MN Dave]

*pats you on the back* Have fun man. 

Thanks. 

[MN Dave]

How do you guys tag recital or aria discs where there are many different pieces--and pieces of pieces--by different composers? Do you really tag each one as a separate entity? What a nightmare! Thanks.

[gmstudio]

How do you guys tag recital or aria discs where there are many different pieces--and pieces of pieces--by different composers? Do you really tag each one as a separate entity? What a nightmare! Thanks.

To be honest, I rarely listen to aria/recital discs.   I have a couple of Cecilia Bartoli discs, and a few by Anonymous 4, but I tag those like I do my pop stuff:

Album:  An English Ladymass
Artist: Anonymous 4

[MN Dave]

To be honest, I rarely listen to aria/recital discs.   I have a couple of Cecilia Bartoli discs, and a few by Anonymous 4, but I tag those like I do my pop stuff:

Album:  An English Ladymass
Artist: Anonymous 4

That's what I was thinking. I was puttering away at changing my tags last night when I hit a Caruso disc with 27 tracks by different composers. I was not happy! But, yeah, the pop formatting should work unless I want to spend the rest of my life doing this and not getting anything else done.

[MN Dave]

And I hate when they throw some random piece of music on a disc just for filler. Probably shouldn't even rip it, eh? What say you?

[gmstudio]

And I hate when they throw some random piece of music on a disc just for filler. Probably shouldn't even rip it, eh? What say you?

Depends on the piece.  Last night I was ripping a Brahms Requiem w/ Bruno Walter and the "filler" was the Alto Rhapsody...So I ripped that separately as per above and now it's just a part of the Brahms library in my iTunes.

On the other hand, I was also ripping the Szell "Live in Toyko 1970" disc and just ripped the symphonies (Mozart 40 and Sibelius 2) and left off the overtures.  Incidentally, those symphonies got ripped to their respective composer's file...so the Mozart album title is "Szell - Sym 40 (Live in Tokyo)."

[MN Dave]

Depends on the piece.  Last night I was ripping a Brahms Requiem w/ Bruno Walter and the "filler" was the Alto Rhapsody...So I ripped that separately as per above and now it's just a part of the Brahms library in my iTunes.

On the other hand, I was also ripping the Szell "Live in Toyko 1970" disc and just ripped the symphonies (Mozart 40 and Sibelius 2) and left off the overtures.  Incidentally, those symphonies got ripped to their respective composer's file...so the Mozart album title is "Szell - Sym 40 (Live in Tokyo)."

If it's a full piece, I don't mind.  But if it's the allegro from a sonata or something, I think I'll skip it hoping it's not the best version of that movement in the whole world.

[gmstudio]

If it's a full piece, I don't mind.  But if it's the allegro from a sonata or something, I think I'll skip it hoping it's not the best version of that movement in the whole world.

Oh absolutely. I HATE those...

[Morigan]

How do you guys tag recital or aria discs where there are many different pieces--and pieces of pieces--by different composers? Do you really tag each one as a separate entity? What a nightmare! Thanks.

Just take another look at my screenshot. These are recital disks

[Mark]

While I don't use iTunes (being an avowed hater of all things Apple), I do find that having a good system of tagging is of paramount importance with classical rips. I've stated my own method in at least two other threads, so I won't repeat it here, but I will pick up on the comments of some that they don't care about which CD any given work comes from once it's ripped. For me, it's all-important, as I tag with album art and only ever download complete albums - I wouldn't dream of just taking the work that most interested me: I have to have it all. I think this is the twitchy, insane perfectionist in me. Keeping everything together by album has many times led to some interesting (re)discoveries, as it's forced me to hear things - especially while travelling - that I might not have played had I been sat in my living room, remote in hand.

[MN Dave]

Just take another look at my screenshot. These are recital disks

So you tagged each track? Yikes.