Apple Music Classical 4+

I like this app because it very nicely filters out everything that isn’t classical and gives off a lot of info on who composed it, who is conducting, and who is playing what. I like having this data so I can find music that sounds similar and have a preference. One small thing I know most people will have an issue barely staring to use this app is that there isn’t a way to shuffle. It takes kind of a learning curve since it works a little different than the Apple Music app.

One thing I wish it did have was for me to have a separate library on the classical music app. I understand you can make a playlist and only play music you want to hear, but it would be kind of annoying to have to manually add a song you like that isn’t classical or an instrumental to one playlist and then other music to another. Since there are two apps (the classical music app being just a big filter for the music), then I think it would be better to have two separate libraries.
A library that saves the music I save from the classical music app, and another library from the regular music app. I’m not saying to completely separate them, but it would be nice to have an option to choose to separate them. I like having to play my all music in the car on shuffle without my music haven’t to be interrupted my instrumentals.

First, an app that caters to classical music’s different conventions is revelatory. Classical music recordings as an afterthought is an old problem, dating back to most bricks-and-mortar record stores that had a few bins off in the corner organized by some kid who could care less about it. Having things organized based on the greater complexity inherent in the genre is not only great for enthusiasts, but will help people new to classical music finally get past the “Best of Mozart” and “Soothing Classical Piano” compilations before they lose interest.

That complexity means added variables, and so Apple’s decision to introduce the app only on a single device at first makes some sense. Work the kinks out on iPhone before adding variables by modifying the UI for iPad, Mac, and Apple TV devices.

That said, I surely do hope the app will expand to those other devices soon. It should not be lost on Apple that the target audience for this app likely has a higher propensity to prefer listening through home sound systems with amplifiers tied to good speakers. I have an Apple TV box tied to my system in the den. So presently, the Classical app is good for searching and finding things, but then I have to save it to my ‘library’ and pull it back up in the regular music app on the Apple TV. It will be better when there’s a Classical Music app on the ATV itself.

It takes a while to understand how to drill down to specific recordings in search. For instance, after searching for a composer and tapping on the link to show all albums, there’s another search bar that isn’t revealed until you happen to drag down. Searching for “box sets” is difficult. Try searching for the Deutsche Grammophon set of all Chopin’s works. Until I put in the exact title of the set, “Chopin Complete Edition,” I was not able to find it by a combination of search and browse. IDAGIO remains true north for pinpoint extensive search capability. I had hoped Apple would incorporate Primephonic’s Maestro feature, where some recordings have pop-up notes throughout the recording that give interesting musical and historical tidbits about the work or specific passages within it. There is “Track by Track,” new to Apple, where an artist talks about each track of a release, but it’s not the same. You’d have to have seen Maestro in Primephonic to know how cool it is. Settings for the app are almost non-existent. Am I to assume the regular Apple Music app settings affect the Classical app too? How do I turn off spatial audio? How do I set to stream at hi-res over wifi but lower res over cellular? But yes, overall the app is a step in the right direction and search is improved over regular Apple Music. I hope it is only a first step and that there will continue to be improvements and new features.