7 ms·

Concertmaster – Classical music front-end for Spotify

90 points by msvan 9y ago

stereo 9y ago
It looks fantastic from the website! On my mac though, it’s stuck at “Loading…” on the launch screen. It’s also a pity it’s not open source, it would be great to be able to contribute composers.
- rareglove 9y ago
  Same here. I've got the latest Spotify version, but it still can't get past loading.
  - binarymoose 9y ago
    Same. :( I've reached out to the facebook page. I don't know if the project is still active or not.
    - gessulat 9y ago
      same here ;(
- calvano915 9y ago
  Same for Windows 10 PC. Disappointing...
- jvandonsel 9y ago
  If you're stuck at "Loading..." on your Mac, click on the Concertmaster icon in the nav bar, and select "Open Concertmaster"
hkmurakami 9y ago
This would be a serious game changer for me if it actually does what it promises. It has been so frustrating as a user that I'd been tempted to join a product team on one of the streaming service providers just to fix this.
adrianosbr 9y ago
Hi, Concertmaster developer here. Thanks for trying the app. Very surprised by the repercussion! Well, the current version of Concertmaster has a known bug which freezes the app in its first run. (This issue will be solved in a major update January, but I’m seriously thinking of releasing a fix today or tomorrow.) Please try closing the app and running it again. It may work
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- cannam 9y ago
  Tried this with the Linux version, no luck. (I'm using Arch Linux but unpacking the .deb reveals an executable that appears to run, it just gets stuck on Loading as you describe.) I really look forward to trying this out when that's fixed, or if you can suggest a workaround. It's a subject I'm very interested in both as a listener and a developer. I spent a while thinking about this problem a few years ago, in the hope of making a music player that could tell you things like "what other recordings of this work are there?", "what else can I listen to that is arranged for cello, violin, and piano?", "suggest one recording of each of Carl Nielsen's symphonies", etc. Or even apparently very simple things like "play the symphony from this album, but stop when you reach the end of the work, don't play the overture they stuck on the end to fill up the CD". At the time I was still imagining something based on a mixture of local CD rips, things available on download services (which could be suggested but not necessarily played), etc. Anyway, I didn't really do anything -- I got only as far as throwing together this messy RDF dataset http://dbtune.org/classical/ http://dbtune.org/classical/ -- and I haven't returned seriously to the problem since. It's remained on my mind though, not least because I would still love to be able to use such a thing, and I'll be very interested to see how you're approaching it.
  - adrianosbr 9y ago
    Hi! Nice to hear from you. Classical music has a very complex taxonomy and the so-called “metadata problem” hasn’t been solved by any streaming provider so far. There are some guys in Berlin that are creating a completely new streamer called Idagio, and it seems promising. But they are struggling to sign deals with labels, the process of adding recordings to their database is understandably slow, and subscribing a new streamer implies an additional cost to listeners. I tried to solve the “metadata problem” using existing infrastructure: Spotify and All Music Guide. (Scraping AMG website sits in a legal gray area, I know.) DBTune looks very nice; I recall a similar app in early 2000s called ClassiCat. Anyway, if you have the UPC of an album, it’s fairly easy to play it in Spotify. Cheers! PS: I’m a Nielsen fan too :)
jajahallo 9y ago
Everyone struggling with the "Loading..." launch screen on Mac: Try clicking the Concertmaster icon in the menu bar, and click "Open Concertmaster". That solved it for me
adrianosbr 9y ago
I’ll release a fixed version of Concertmaster tonight. Sorry for that and thanks for your patience, folks!
aphrax 9y ago
Can get into the app ok but tracks will not play. Linux Mint 18.2. Looks great though, will keep an eye on it.
rmchugh 9y ago
great idea, I was just thinking today that the Spotify interface is deficient for classical music. Will try it out asap. Thanks!
sravfeyn 9y ago
This is great! I wished something like this existed for Indian classical music, since in it also a composition can be performed by multiple artists differently and multiple performances can be created with with different permutations of the rhythm and melody. This player, as is, doesn't account for compositional units of Indian classical music (obviously because it's designed for Western Classical music). Language is also something that is missed in mainstream music players.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- d13 9y ago
  Yes! Where can I find a good source of Indian Classical Music on the web? Do any of these streaming sources have good (and by that I mean deep) catalogues of ICM?
masonkay 9y ago
This is great, I have been waiting for an app like this! Though I've experienced the install hang-up on Win 10 Fall edition. I'll keep an eye on the update build.
apaprocki 9y ago
Another app that is very nicely done and has excellent classical music support is Roon: https://roonlabs.com/ https://roonlabs.com/ I'd be interested to see if there is any feature difference between the two in case anyone has used / does use both.
jvandonsel 9y ago
Very nice, and will be much nicer when the bugs are worked out. It looks like the catalog Concertmaster is using is rather limited, though. For example, for Thomas Adès only 5 pieces are listed, though Spotify has many more.
fladrif 9y ago
Wow, this is something I was just complaining about today, how I had to turn off shuffle because it would mess up the movement order.
adrianosbr 9y ago
FIX RELEASED! Please download the new versions at: Win: http://getconcertmaster.com/latest/?os=win http://getconcertmaster.com/latest/?os=win Mac: http://getconcertmaster.com/latest/?os=mac http://getconcertmaster.com/latest/?os=mac Linux: http://getconcertmaster.com/latest/?os=linux http://getconcertmaster.com/latest/?os=linux
- cannam 9y ago
  Thank you! I can confirm that this works for me on Arch Linux after unpacking the .deb and running the executable from there. (This is with Spotify v1.0.67.582-1 from AUR - but I never saw the other freezing problem that mafrasi2 mentioned, so I can't comment on that)
- rmchugh 9y ago
  I was able to install on Ubuntu with Software Center after downloading the deb. The UI is a big improvement for classical music.
- frereubu 9y ago
  Thanks for making this, it's wonderful and will make a _huge_ difference to my listening on Spotify. For example, I've got a thing about Ravel's Piano Concerto in G and I've found a whole load of new recordings I knew nothing about. A few comments and suggestions: Pieces are sorted strictly alphabetically, which means that lists of "String Quartet number X" are sorted like: String Quartet no. 1 String Quartet no. 10 String Quartet no. 12 String Quartet no. 13 String Quartet no. 2 Not sure how complicated that is to change, but it would make browsing a little easier if they were listed numerically. I find the horizontal listing of composers a bit unintuitive, and would prefer a vertical list (probably to do with ubiquity of vertical scrolling in apps and browsers), perhaps between favourites and list of works. Really like the fact that it includes images and isn't just a dry list of names though. Seems like there are a number of not-so-esoteric composers missing, such as John Luther Adams (a different person from John Adams), Gavin Bryars, Jacques Duphly and Gérard Grisey, despite the presence of composers that I'd never heard of like Orlande de Lassus. I guess this is a limitation of the data sources, but would love to see some more of those included too. Searching for "Jana" doesn't return Janáček - presumably because of the accents. Would be great to ignore accents for easy typing on British English / American English keyboards. The small application icon on Mac - for example the installer disk image icon, and the icon in Mac notifications, is a frazzled multicoloured square rather than a proper icon. Sometimes a message comes up saying "This isn't available on Spotify - bummer!" but doesn't explain why. I didn't think to check when it happened, but I guess it might be that it's not available in my territory (the UK), and I have Spotify set to show tracks that aren't available. If there was a way to have a bit more explanation in that error message somehow that would be helpful - for example, if it's to do with my setting to show tracks that aren't available, a sentence to say that toggling that setting would make that not happen. A tiny, tiny thing - clicking Apple + A when in the search box doesn't select all text although double-clicking does.
michieljoris2 9y ago
Works fine on ubuntu 14.04. Radio is a nice touch. Missing composer is Charles-Valentin Alkan.

90 points by msvan 9y ago

It looks fantastic from the website! On my mac though, it’s stuck at “Loading…” on the launch screen. It’s also a pity it’s not open source, it would be great to be able to contribute composers.

rareglove 9y ago
Same here. I've got the latest Spotify version, but it still can't get past loading.
- binarymoose 9y ago
  Same. :( I've reached out to the facebook page. I don't know if the project is still active or not.
  - gessulat 9y ago
    same here ;(
calvano915 9y ago
Same for Windows 10 PC. Disappointing...
jvandonsel 9y ago
If you're stuck at "Loading..." on your Mac, click on the Concertmaster icon in the nav bar, and select "Open Concertmaster"

hkmurakami 9y ago

This would be a serious game changer for me if it actually does what it promises. It has been so frustrating as a user that I'd been tempted to join a product team on one of the streaming service providers just to fix this.

adrianosbr 9y ago

Hi, Concertmaster developer here. Thanks for trying the app. Very surprised by the repercussion! Well, the current version of Concertmaster has a known bug which freezes the app in its first run. (This issue will be solved in a major update January, but I’m seriously thinking of releasing a fix today or tomorrow.) Please try closing the app and running it again. It may work

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
cannam 9y ago
Tried this with the Linux version, no luck. (I'm using Arch Linux but unpacking the .deb reveals an executable that appears to run, it just gets stuck on Loading as you describe.) I really look forward to trying this out when that's fixed, or if you can suggest a workaround. It's a subject I'm very interested in both as a listener and a developer. I spent a while thinking about this problem a few years ago, in the hope of making a music player that could tell you things like "what other recordings of this work are there?", "what else can I listen to that is arranged for cello, violin, and piano?", "suggest one recording of each of Carl Nielsen's symphonies", etc. Or even apparently very simple things like "play the symphony from this album, but stop when you reach the end of the work, don't play the overture they stuck on the end to fill up the CD". At the time I was still imagining something based on a mixture of local CD rips, things available on download services (which could be suggested but not necessarily played), etc. Anyway, I didn't really do anything -- I got only as far as throwing together this messy RDF dataset http://dbtune.org/classical/ http://dbtune.org/classical/ -- and I haven't returned seriously to the problem since. It's remained on my mind though, not least because I would still love to be able to use such a thing, and I'll be very interested to see how you're approaching it.
- adrianosbr 9y ago
  Hi! Nice to hear from you. Classical music has a very complex taxonomy and the so-called “metadata problem” hasn’t been solved by any streaming provider so far. There are some guys in Berlin that are creating a completely new streamer called Idagio, and it seems promising. But they are struggling to sign deals with labels, the process of adding recordings to their database is understandably slow, and subscribing a new streamer implies an additional cost to listeners. I tried to solve the “metadata problem” using existing infrastructure: Spotify and All Music Guide. (Scraping AMG website sits in a legal gray area, I know.) DBTune looks very nice; I recall a similar app in early 2000s called ClassiCat. Anyway, if you have the UPC of an album, it’s fairly easy to play it in Spotify. Cheers! PS: I’m a Nielsen fan too :)

jajahallo 9y ago

Everyone struggling with the "Loading..." launch screen on Mac: Try clicking the Concertmaster icon in the menu bar, and click "Open Concertmaster". That solved it for me

adrianosbr 9y ago

I’ll release a fixed version of Concertmaster tonight. Sorry for that and thanks for your patience, folks!

aphrax 9y ago

Can get into the app ok but tracks will not play. Linux Mint 18.2. Looks great though, will keep an eye on it.

rmchugh 9y ago

great idea, I was just thinking today that the Spotify interface is deficient for classical music. Will try it out asap. Thanks!

sravfeyn 9y ago

This is great! I wished something like this existed for Indian classical music, since in it also a composition can be performed by multiple artists differently and multiple performances can be created with with different permutations of the rhythm and melody. This player, as is, doesn't account for compositional units of Indian classical music (obviously because it's designed for Western Classical music). Language is also something that is missed in mainstream music players.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
d13 9y ago
Yes! Where can I find a good source of Indian Classical Music on the web? Do any of these streaming sources have good (and by that I mean deep) catalogues of ICM?

masonkay 9y ago

This is great, I have been waiting for an app like this! Though I've experienced the install hang-up on Win 10 Fall edition. I'll keep an eye on the update build.

apaprocki 9y ago

Another app that is very nicely done and has excellent classical music support is Roon: https://roonlabs.com/ https://roonlabs.com/ I'd be interested to see if there is any feature difference between the two in case anyone has used / does use both.

jvandonsel 9y ago

Very nice, and will be much nicer when the bugs are worked out. It looks like the catalog Concertmaster is using is rather limited, though. For example, for Thomas Adès only 5 pieces are listed, though Spotify has many more.

fladrif 9y ago

Wow, this is something I was just complaining about today, how I had to turn off shuffle because it would mess up the movement order.

adrianosbr 9y ago

FIX RELEASED! Please download the new versions at: Win: http://getconcertmaster.com/latest/?os=win http://getconcertmaster.com/latest/?os=win Mac: http://getconcertmaster.com/latest/?os=mac http://getconcertmaster.com/latest/?os=mac Linux: http://getconcertmaster.com/latest/?os=linux http://getconcertmaster.com/latest/?os=linux

cannam 9y ago
Thank you! I can confirm that this works for me on Arch Linux after unpacking the .deb and running the executable from there. (This is with Spotify v1.0.67.582-1 from AUR - but I never saw the other freezing problem that mafrasi2 mentioned, so I can't comment on that)
rmchugh 9y ago
I was able to install on Ubuntu with Software Center after downloading the deb. The UI is a big improvement for classical music.
frereubu 9y ago
Thanks for making this, it's wonderful and will make a _huge_ difference to my listening on Spotify. For example, I've got a thing about Ravel's Piano Concerto in G and I've found a whole load of new recordings I knew nothing about. A few comments and suggestions: Pieces are sorted strictly alphabetically, which means that lists of "String Quartet number X" are sorted like: String Quartet no. 1 String Quartet no. 10 String Quartet no. 12 String Quartet no. 13 String Quartet no. 2 Not sure how complicated that is to change, but it would make browsing a little easier if they were listed numerically. I find the horizontal listing of composers a bit unintuitive, and would prefer a vertical list (probably to do with ubiquity of vertical scrolling in apps and browsers), perhaps between favourites and list of works. Really like the fact that it includes images and isn't just a dry list of names though. Seems like there are a number of not-so-esoteric composers missing, such as John Luther Adams (a different person from John Adams), Gavin Bryars, Jacques Duphly and Gérard Grisey, despite the presence of composers that I'd never heard of like Orlande de Lassus. I guess this is a limitation of the data sources, but would love to see some more of those included too. Searching for "Jana" doesn't return Janáček - presumably because of the accents. Would be great to ignore accents for easy typing on British English / American English keyboards. The small application icon on Mac - for example the installer disk image icon, and the icon in Mac notifications, is a frazzled multicoloured square rather than a proper icon. Sometimes a message comes up saying "This isn't available on Spotify - bummer!" but doesn't explain why. I didn't think to check when it happened, but I guess it might be that it's not available in my territory (the UK), and I have Spotify set to show tracks that aren't available. If there was a way to have a bit more explanation in that error message somehow that would be helpful - for example, if it's to do with my setting to show tracks that aren't available, a sentence to say that toggling that setting would make that not happen. A tiny, tiny thing - clicking Apple + A when in the search box doesn't select all text although double-clicking does.

michieljoris2 9y ago

Works fine on ubuntu 14.04. Radio is a nice touch. Missing composer is Charles-Valentin Alkan.