In the streaming era, fans of classical music have
had reason to grumble.
It can be hard for veteran listeners to find what they want
on platforms like Spotify, Tidal, Amazon, and YouTube, which are optimized for
pop music fans searching for the latest by Taylor Swift or Beyoncé. And for
curious newcomers, it can be difficult to get beyond algorithmic loops of Johann
Pachelbel’s “Canon in D Major” and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Rondo Alla
Turca”.
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Apple has released a stand-alone app meant to address these
problems. Apple Music Classical features a refined search engine, a sleek
interface, and a host of features aimed at making classical music more
accessible, including beginners’ guides to different musical eras and
commentary from marquee artists like violinist Hilary Hahn and cellist Yo-Yo
Ma.
Apple hopes that the app — which has been in development
since 2021, when the company acquired Primephonic, a classical streaming
startup in Amsterdam — will attract die-hard classical fans and new listeners
alike. But it remains unclear how much traction the app can get in a crowded
streaming market, in which Apple competes with behemoths like Spotify as well
as dedicated classical services like Idagio.
“This is just the beginning,” Oliver Schusser, a vice
president at Apple, said in an interview, adding that Apple would continue to
improve and build the app’s database. “We’re really serious about this.”
I spent a few days putting Apple Music Classical to the
test, trying out its search, playlists, and guides to classical music. The app
is currently available only on iPhone, though an Android version is in the
works; at the moment, there is no desktop version.
“This is just the beginning,” Oliver Schusser, a vice president at Apple, said in an interview... “We’re really serious about this.”
Here are my impressions.
Cutting through the metadataFor pop music, a listing of artist, track, and album is
generally sufficient. But in classical, there are more nuances in the metadata:
composer, work, soloist, ensemble, instrument, conductor, movement, and
nickname (like Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Emperor” concerto or Gustav Mahler’s
“Resurrection” symphony).
Apple has amassed 50 million such data points, the company
says, in the app — encompassing some 20,000 composers, 117,000 works, 350,000
movements and 5 million tracks — and its search function generally feels more
intuitive than its rivals’.
On many streaming platforms, I have struggled to find Sergei
Rachmaninoff’s recordings of his compositions. A search for his name on
Spotify, for example, returns a disorderly display of his most popular works,
such as “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini”, performed by a wide variety of
artists.
But on Apple Music Classical, it is easier to quickly locate
his recordings because the app can distinguish between Rachmaninoff the
composer and Rachmaninoff the pianist or conductor. The search function is not
perfect; a Rachmaninoff track by Chinese pianist Niu Niu also shows up in the
mix of recordings by Rachmaninoff. But the app makes it much easier to hunt
down specific pieces of music.
A sprawling
collectionApple Music Classical has a clean and inviting interface
that mimics the main Apple Music app. But it still struggles with a problem
that has long vexed classical streaming: the sheer volume of the catalog.
Apple makes the vastness of the classical repertoire more manageable through inventive playlists, which help resurface celebrated recordings.
A search for Giuseppe Verdi’s “Aida”, for example, turns up
an eye-popping 1,330 recordings. Apple has tried to make it easier to navigate
a sprawling list like that. A page for “Aida”, for example, has a brief
description of the opera, an “editor’s choice” recording (Antonio Pappano and
the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia), and five of the most
frequently played versions.
But it can still feel overwhelming. It helps to know exactly
what you are looking for: The list can be searched, scrolled, or sorted by
popularity, name, release date, or duration. If you are interested in
recordings of “Aida” featuring Leontyne Price in the title role, for example,
you can type in “Leontyne” and find her performances under the baton of Erich
Leinsdorf, Georg Solti, Thomas Schippers, and others.
Apple makes the vastness of the classical repertoire more
manageable through inventive playlists, which help resurface celebrated
recordings. These playlists cover a variety of genres, including opera,
Renaissance music, art song, and minimalism. There are also lists for
composers, including the usual suspects — Bach, Mozart, Beethoven — as well as
contemporary artists like Kaija Saariaho and Steve Reich.
“Hidden Gems” highlights overlooked albums (“Breaking
Waves”, a compilation of flute music by Swedish women, for instance, or
“Consolation: Forgotten Treasures of the Ukrainian Soul”). “Composers
Undiscovered” showcases lesser-known works by prominent composers, like
Beethoven’s Scottish songs.
Attracting newcomersApple hopes the app will help draw new listeners to
classical music, and many features are aimed at shedding its elitist image.
On the home screen, the app offers a nine-part introduction
called “The Story of Classical”, described as a guide to the “weird and
wonderful world of classical music”. The series takes listeners from the
baroque to the 21st century, with forays further back, into medieval and
Renaissance music.
On the home screen,
the app offers a nine-part introduction called “The Story of Classical”,
described as a guide to the “weird and wonderful world of classical music”.
A series called “Track by Track” features commentary by
renowned artists, including Hahn and Ma. Cellist Abel Selaocoe, introducing an
album of pieces by Bach and South African and Tanzanian folk songs, describes
how hymnal music from England and the Netherlands mixed with African culture.
Pianist Víkingur Olafsson talks about feeling naked onstage when he plays
Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 16, “a piece we all have to face as pianists”.
Part of Apple’s mission appears to be to help elevate
overlooked artists, particularly women and people of color. For example, a tab
of composers begins with Beethoven, Bach, and Mozart but then expands to Clara
Schumann, Caroline Shaw, and Errollyn Wallen, as well as William Grant Still.
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