Apple Music to offer the world's best classical catalog

Apple Music Classical, a streaming app dedicated to classical music, launched in Korea last Wednesday, 10 months after its initial launch. Apple Music Classical is available to existing Apple Music subscribers at no additional cost.

I searched for the Apple Music Classical app in the App Store and installed it. When I opened the app, I was greeted with a menu of ‘New Releases,’ ‘Exclusive Releases,’ ‘Spatial Sounds,’ ‘Playlists by Artist,’ and ‘Era and Genre.

When I typed 'Puccini' in the search bar, the composer's main page featured submenus for 'Popular Works,' 'Latest Albums,' and 'Composer Biographies.' You can find representative recordings of Puccini's operas in the' Popular Works' menu. From there, you can narrow down and refine your search. I could search by category: composer, performer, instrument, combination, period, and more. I could read detailed deep-dives and album introductions for many albums, though not all of them provided this level of information.

The entire Apple Music Classical catalog is available in the highest audio quality, reaching up to 192 kHz/24-bit Hi-Res Lossless. Additionally, you can access thousands of tracks in Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos.

On Monday afternoon, Apple Music hosted a presentation on Apple Music Classical at the Myeongdong Apple Store in Seoul. Lim Yun-chan performed three pieces, including Chopin's Etude, Op. 25, No. 11. Chopin's Ballade No. 1, performed by Stanislav Neuhaus, was selected for Lim’s Playlists on the app.

“Classical music is more complex than other genres, with multiple performers playing the same piece,” Apple Music Head Jonathan Gruber said at the event. “We've spent years building our database and applying algorithms to 20,000 composers, 115,000 works, 350,000 movements, and more than five million tracks to create the world's best classical catalog. With over 200,000 performers, this catalog will continue to grow.”

gustav@donga.com