Another Problem with Classical Composers

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yarguy
Posts: 394
Joined: Mon Apr 09, 2012 8:34 am

Another Problem with Classical Composers

Post by yarguy »

In the Classical Music section on MMA, one of the options is to have the list of composers displayed. I don't seem to have the problem that brucek123 does, but another one. When the user selects a composer, MMA then displays albums on which that composer is represented. For some of these that composer is the only composer for all the tracks on the album and these present no problem. For others, however, that composer may be represented by only some of the tracks on the album and that's where the problem lies. If the user selects an album of the second type, MMA displays not just the tracks by that composer, but all the tracks on the album, including those by other composers. That's not what I want - I want just those tracks that are compositions by the composer I have selected. And that's not impossible - other music players with a special classical approach do just that. To make matters worse, once an album is selected there is no display of the composer's name(s); so how do I find which of the 15 track(s) on Stephen Iserlis' The Cello in Wartime are composed by Frank Bridge?

I would add that even a music player I don't think of as particularly well designed for classical music, Poweramp, displays only the tracks appropriate for a selected composer (but I do think of Poweramp as a real competitor for MMA, especially in regard to its audio quality).
xavierlh1
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2021 3:31 pm

Re: Another Problem with Classical Composers

Post by xavierlh1 »

Using MMW 5.0.1.2433 and MMA I agree that MMW/MMA seem ill suited for Classical Music.

* Classical music is by nature organized around composers (just list popular music is organized around Artists). But MMA never displays the composer for a track being played. My work around is to include the composer as part of the Artists field, but that muddles everything. I also tried adding the composer's name at the start of every track name, but this results in very long file names.
* To complicate things some contemporary composers (e.g. Philip Glass) sometimes release albums (e.g. Uakti - Aguas da Amazonia) which fit the "Music" model better than the "Classical Music" model.
* And as yarguy indicates, when I pick an album from the list of albums associated with a specific composer, I really only want to see the tracks from that composer. To try and figure out how MMW/MMA handle albums with a mix of composers and popular music tracks, I added 4 tracks from a classical album (Trevor Pinnock 16th Century Harpsichord), each track from a different composer, as well as 3 tracks from a Pink Martini album. Pink Martini is tagged with Type=Music, and the Trevor Pinnock tracks are tagged with Type=Classical Music. I then wiped my phone MMA library and sync'd only the selected tracks. Here is what I ended up with:
- In Album on the main screen, I only see the Pink Martini Retrospective. In Artists, I only see the ones from Pink Martini. Same for Album Artists. Tracks shows the three tracks from Pink Martini.
- However, under Composers (from the main screen) I now see a mix of Pink Martini and Trevor Pinnock tracks - that's confusing.
- Under Classical Music, I see the 4 composers associated with Trevor Pinnock (but not those of the Pink Martini tracks - which is good). I also only see the Trevor Pinnock Album, and the four tracks from that album. So at least the Classical Music side of MMA is more consistent. However, as pointed by yarguy, if I pick John Bull as the composer I want to listen to, I see the one album where he is present, but when I click on that album, I see all four tracks (including those from the other composers).
- And when I play the John Bull track, the only visual reminder I have that the composer is John Bull is his name which I added in the Artists field for that purpose.

Media Monkey is by far the best tool on the market, but to address the classical music market, MMA should really be showing the composer in the details displayed during playback - possibly only if the composer field is not blank. In fact if MMA did that, I would completely forgo the Classical Music part of the UI, and simply tag all my tracks as Music.
xavierlh1
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2021 3:31 pm

Re: Another Problem with Classical Composers

Post by xavierlh1 »

More on this ...

It seems that the Composer, Artists and Conductor (leaving out the blank fields) could all be strung on one line in the MMA display; or may be wrap it on two lines if there's room.
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