While I have a lot of classical music, it’s not something I often listen to (partially because it’s difficult to organize). I’m struggling to determine the best practice to organize and tag my music prior to adding it to Plex so it’s as intuitive as possible to explore.
Is there a definitive methodology for organizing and tagging classical music?
This reddit thread leads me to believe there is not.
I keep hitting these stumbling blocks as I organize my classical music: What’s the Artist? What’s the Album Artist? Does a Composer tag do anything? Should the root folder be Composer, Conductor, or Orchestra?
My initial inclination is to make Album Artist the Orchestra as (1) that’s usually going to be the organization who has released the record and (2) there may be multiple works by different composers on the same album.
However, it seems that if I’m using Plex and go to the Philadelphia Orchestra page, I’m not seeing a bio for the Orchestra. If I go to the Plex page for a Composer, they have a bio. This seems to suggest Plex wants Album Artist to be the Composer.
Whether Album Artist is Orchestra or Composer, what should Artist be? If Artist is the Conductor then it’s difficult to find the Orchestra. For me, Orchestra is an important element in exploring my music as this gives me a mental picture as to where this was performed. Additionally, there’s often additional artists and solicits on a recording. I won’t be too upset if I have to get rid of soloists but I wish there was a way to retain their credits. I could possibly re-title the album “Orchestra: Performance” but that seems destructive.
As for folder structure, does this mater if I’m manually tagging the tracks? I’d like to organize the folders by Composer > Proper Album Name. Although, this contradicts my inclination above that the album is released by the orchestra. Therefore it should be Orchestra > Proper Album Name. On the other hand, if the proper album name was re-titled “Orchestra: Performance” this (Composer > Orchestra - Performance) would support re-titling the Album tag. Again, I’m not a fan of re-titling an album.
The way I think of this is; if I’m going to grab a bunch of physical records, I’m going to get a stack of Jimi Hendrix records and say 'here’s all my Hendrix records". I’m stuck debating if I want to grab a stack of Mahler records or a stack of Philadelphia Orchestra records. I’m leaning towards the former by a fraction.
I realize Plex isn’t optimized for classical music like some other platforms and I realize there likely isn’t one optimal method to accomplish this. I’m just trying to work within the confines of what’s available with the forethought to be sure I’m tagging my files properly for whatever platform I may move the files to in the future. Any thoughts and personal examples would be appreciated.
