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Alpina_Lux · 31-03-2014, 17:30

(31-03-2014 11:26)bbrip Wrote:
(31-03-2014 10:27)Alpina_Lux Wrote: For example, I have around 60 recordings of Chopin's 1st piano concerto, among them probably two dozen by Martha Argerich alone. I need to be able to search for a specific recording of that work and distinguish live and studio recordings; I'd also like to see the label if it has been published.

Dear fellow-German,

you even beat me on that and I'm a pretty obsessive collector

I have been told quite a few times things like: "Why do you need SO many recordings of the same piece?" But I only have that many versions of a few pieces and with a few soloists. Also, most of these recordings fall in a time when I still had lots of time to record these things...

(31-03-2014 11:26)bbrip Wrote:
(31-03-2014 10:27)Alpina_Lux Wrote: It seems that the following tags are required in that case:
- composer (Chopin)
- composition (piano concerto no. 1 op. 11)
- orchestra (e.g. Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal)
- conductor (e.g. Charles Dutoit)
- soloist (M. Argerich)
- recording date (e.g. 1999)
- recording venue (e.g. Montréal)
- recording type (live / studio)
- label (e.g. EMI)

I assume the "Group" tag will also be necessary, in order to be able to link the three movements of the relevant composition together, as well as to be able to include any encores that are given in case of a live performance.

Quite complex, all this!

You could do it this way, which indeed would be the most accurate but also most complex way of doing things. You will probably find soon that you will have to spend excessive time keeping all those tags straight.

I have taken a more simplistic approach by defining "Album" at "Composition" level. Which saves me a compsiotn tag and the Grouping feature.

If I now have a hand full composition with the same soloist, I'd distinguish them in the "Album" tag as follows:

Chopin: Klavierkonzert Nr 1 op. 11 - Zimmerman / Karajan
Chopin: Klavierkonzert Nr 1 op. 11 - Zimmerman / Polish Festival
Chopin: Klavierkonzert Nr 1 op. 11 - Argerich / Dutoit
Chopin: Klavierkonzert Nr 1 op. 11 - Argerich / Abbado
etc.
etc.

I use the "Date" tag to tag the date (usually just the year) of recording. Label I am also tagging as you suggest (some also use the "Organization" tag for it - dosnt really matter. Recording venue is not of such overwhelming importance to me so I dont tag that one. But just to give another example: I have a large collection of organ music, so I have defined a Tag "Organ" where I fill in the used Instrument (Silbermann-Orgel in the Freiberg Dom etc...).

So indeed Minimserver is amazingly flexible and you can define any tag that best reflects your needs - just dont make it too complicated otherwise you'll spend more time tagging than listening...

Viel Glück
bbrip

Danke!

I have also thought about using the "Album" tag for compositions instead; and I've read that quite a few people do that, and that it is a very pragmatic way of organising the collection. It has the additional advantage of making the tagging less complex, and as you say the objective should be to listen to music and not to tag... Smile

However, it also has the disadvantage of not allowing me to browse CDs by albums as they were sold or recorded. Now, that may not be so important in some cases, in others I believe it would be (at least to me, YMMV). Maybe I'm conservative in that but in my mind my collection is organised by albums similar to how they are being sold, and that's usually how I browse my collection. I think - without wanting to over-analyse this - that at some point I would miss not being able to browse the albums themselves. Also, with recitals or compilations (think of Hamelin's 'Composer Pianist' album for instance) I would like to listen to these in a row, which if I understood this approach correctly would be almost impossible.

In addition, in case of live recitals where the artist or orchestra gives one or more encores, I would like to put these together in an 'album' in order to be able to find them together. Now it could certainly be argued that I would need to invest a lot of work for little added value...which might be quite true! I still think though that I'd be rather irritated at myself if down the line - say after tagging 100 CDs or so - I discover that I would absolutely love to have the feature of looking for compositions and albums separately.

Food for thought - and thank you for your valuable input, it's great to see how others have approached these problems.