# How Do You "Categorize" Your Large Classical Music Collection?



## realdealblues

You've got a large Classical CD or Record collection and you're going to put it up on several shelves or a bookcase or the like.

How do you categorize your classical music on the shelf? 

By Composer?
By Conductor?

Say you have several different CD's or Albums by a particular Conductor or Performer you like...Karl Bohm or Alfred Brendel as examples.

Do you put the Karl Bohm & Alfred Brendel albums together? Or do you put their Beethoven recordings under Beethoven and their Mozart recordings under Mozart?

Or do you put your collections of specific Conductors or Performers together, then put your "One-Offs" or smaller collections under each Composer?

I'm genuinely curious how others do this.


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## Guest

I file my CDs by composer but some are recitals etc so they are by artist the problem comes with compilations (which I try to avoid) these are in a space right at the end of the case and tend to be forgotten.


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## Ukko

I file my CDs where there is room on a shelf... or in a box... on in a corner... or a seldom used chair... or on top of the subwoofer. Finding anything is a pleasant surprise. I like pleasant surprises.


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## bigshot

My CDs are in the largest size safekeeper by genre... Russians, German Rmanticism, Baroque, Italian opera, etc. my records became hopelessly shuffled in the last move. I've vowed not to do any more organizing of physical media. From now on, I rip and box the CDs away in the garage. ITunes will do all my organization from now on.


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## techniquest

Because I have too many CD's and too little space, I have a system that I understand but which may not make sense to the casual observer. Essentially, everything is kept in alphabetical order by composer, however all the Naxos CD's are kept on one CD tower, also A-Z (Akutagawa - Zwilich); all my burned CD's from downloads are in another CD tower similarly ordered (Adams - Zhukov). All the Mahler CD's have a shelf of their own; all the box-sets have a shelf of their own and the small but growing collection of opera (the only collection which is stored by genre) is also shelved alphabetically.
There is a secondary structure to this in that if I have several CD's by the same composer, these will be stored by record label so that there is uniformity in appearance.
The vinyl is all kept in one line in the hallway, again A-Z and again with a separate A-Z section for the box sets.


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## Guest

All CDs, irrespective of genre, ordered by artist. Bach before Beatles, Debussy before Dury. What becomes problematic is tagging recordings for my mp3 player so I can find it easily in the car.


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## Art Rock

All classical CD's alphabetical by composer, then per composer ranked orchestral works / chamber / solo / vocal. CD's with two composers are filed under the (according to me) most important composer. CD's with three or more composer are filed after Z, ranked as orchestral works / chamber / solo / vocal.

All pop/rock CD's in a separate system, alphabetical per performer. All Jazz CD's in a separate system, alphabetical per performer.


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## techniquest

I ought to add that with regards to the vinyl collections, once you get past the classical box-sets and LP's, there are then the rock box-sets and LP's which are similarly arranged alphabetically (ABWH - Yes), followed by the 12' singles which are arranged randomly.
However the rock / trance / pop CD's have no major arrangement other than by artist _if_ there are more than 1 of the same artist e.g the Steve Hackett collection, the Yes collection, the Enid collection, etc. But none of these are alphabetically arranged - I don't know why.


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## realdealblues

Interesting thoughts.

I always separate my Genre's. Classical gets it's own bookcase, Jazz gets it's own bookcase, Country, Rock, etc.

In Classical I usually go by Composer unless there is a conductor I have many recordings of. Then I guess I treat them as a box set. 

Example: I have over 100 Leonard Bernstein CD's and many of them have multiple Composers on them so I usually put them first. Then all my Karajan recordings, Kubelik, Marriner, etc. I guess I do that for any Conductor whom I have more than 20 CD's of.

Then all the rest are sorted by Composer with "Works" together like Beethoven Piano Sonatas: Ashkenazy, Brendel, Gilels sets all next to each other.

That's what made sense to me, but I was always curious how others organize theirs.


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## elgar's ghost

I keep all my classical away from my rock and jazz. I have quite a large number of discs in total so it makes sense for me to be a bit strict about the way I store them:

Non-classical: in alphabetical order of band/artist then chronological order according to original release date with any compilations going at the end of section for that band/artist. Any 'various artists' recordings go right at the end after 'Z'.

Classical: alphabetical order according to composer then genre order i) symphonies ii) concertos iii) other orchestral inc. masses/oratorios/cantatas, film/incidental music, ballets etc iv) chamber v) instrumental vi) lieder and a cappella works. All opera recordings and larger boxed sets are stored separately due to space constraints. I have few 'various artists' discs but they would get filed under the composer who has the most prominent work(s) on them rather than the title of the album.

One or two of my ever-decreasing circle of friends think I'm rather obsessive about this but I'm not the one who ends up moaning because they can't lay their hands on an album they wanted to hear!


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## Manxfeeder

I file my classical CDs first by time period, then by composer's birthdates. So the Renaissance section starts with Dunstable, then Dufay, then Busnois, and so forth on out to Lassus and Palestrina. And each composer has his works filed by date of composition. That way I have a timeline so it's easier to track musical progress.

At least it's supposed to work that way until things get misfiled.


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## cwarchc

all my classical are stored alphabetically by composer
all non classical are by artist eg. pink floyd, black sabbath etc


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## AClockworkOrange

I'm still trying to settle on a system which works for me. With metal, rock and blues I simply go by artist in order of preference - my favourite being most accessible.

At present, with classical I am tending to divide by Composer and then by conductor in alphabetical order. I am also tending to keep Opera in a separate order too. At present I have very little storage space so much of my music is boxed up. I am going to thin out my Rock/Metal/Blues and get rid of physical copies of things I no longe listen too (keeping a lossless copy should I wish to hear them again) as my storage situation has become critical.

I only have two pieces of Classical on vinyl so there is very little to sort there - though this is due to availability and price. Vinyl is primarily for metal, rock and blues I truly love and will nev tire of hence I am very careful and selective with vinyl - more so than I have been with CDs though as noted above, my storage issues have changed my approach to buying CDs. Downloads would be an ideal solution for me but I am old school and I want the best quality sound possible. MP3 may be acceptable for my iPod but not for home listening. A hifi is only as good as the input source and I did not spend a great deal of time saving up to build my hifi seperates system to compromise on input quality (though in he scheme of things I appreciate my system is on the budget side of the hifi of the continuum it is my baby and I am immensely happy with it and the soud quality it gives).

Organisation of my Classical musical will probably fluctuate but at present I am satisfied with my system,


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## jtbell

Mostly I file my CDs first by nationality (with a couple of exceptions), then by composer (in chronological order), then by genre (orchestral, concertos, chamber, instrumental, vocal).

Rack #1 in the living room has baroque and earlier, then German/Austrian, French, Hungarian and Russian composers.

Rack #2 in the next room has American, British, and Polish composers, followed by SACDs ordered by label. (The Poles are here because I can fit them here.)

Racks #3 and #4 in a third room have mostly Nordic/Scandinavian and Baltic composers (my big specialty): Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Czech, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic. (The Czechs are here because I can fit them here. The Poles should go here instead, but I'm too lazy to switch them with the Czechs.)


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## CDs

I organize alphabetically with every genre together except classical. My collection has outgrown the shelves and many are on the floor until I get around to buying another shelf.
I do have all my classical box sets in a alphabetical row on top of one of my CD shelves. They are right next to my Bruce Springsteen and Dave Matthews Band box sets. 
Do any of you use excel to keep track of your collection?


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## Pugg

CDs said:


> I organize alphabetically with every genre together except classical. My collection has outgrown the shelves and many are on the floor until I get around to buying another shelf.
> I do have all my classical box sets in a alphabetical row on top of one of my CD shelves. They are right next to my Bruce Springsteen and Dave Matthews Band box sets.
> Do any of you use excel to keep track of your collection?


I did once, forgot to save after a alteration and .......yes you guessed right.


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## severance68

I organize classical recordings alphabetically by composer, and then by the date of the recording. 

So with Rachmaninov (a current obsession, as people may have noticed from my postings in the Current Listening Vol. III thread), the first item is Ormandy's 2-disc set of the three symphonies and Vocalise, as the earliest recording date is 1959 (Symphony No. 2); next is a 2-disc set of the four numbered piano concertos and the Rhapsody, from 1965; and then Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Concertgebouw Orchestra doing Isle of the Dead and the Symphonic Dances, from 1983.

(The Gary Graffman recording of Rach 2 and the Rhapsody, from 1964, which I mentioned in the Latest Purchases thread, is actually a gift for someone else, so it has not been placed on the shelf. But you can see where it would have been filed.  )

For non-classical CDs, I file alphabetically by performer. Cannonball Adderley is the first artist on my shelves, in the upper left-hand corner. At the very end is Denny Zeitlin.

I use (the now discontinued) Catraxx to catalogue my collection.


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## kartikeys

I used to separate the trios and the symphonies. 
I would listen to them as a genre based playlist.


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## Pugg

severance68 said:


> I organize classical recordings alphabetically by composer, and then by the date of the recording.
> 
> So with Rachmaninov (a current obsession, as people may have noticed from my postings in the Current Listening Vol. III thread), the first item is Ormandy's 2-disc set of the three symphonies and Vocalise, as the earliest recording date is 1959 (Symphony No. 2); next is a 2-disc set of the four numbered piano concertos and the Rhapsody, from 1965; and then Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Concertgebouw Orchestra doing Isle of the Dead and the Symphonic Dances, from 1983.
> 
> (The Gary Graffman recording of Rach 2 and the Rhapsody, from 1964, which I mentioned in the Latest Purchases thread, is actually a gift for someone else, so it has not been placed on the shelf. But you can see where it would have been filed.  )


I am almost the same, if I have a multiply record, recorded in the same year it goes on company name :tiphat:


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## ShropshireMoose

My classical collection is organised by label, I've always done it this way, the LPs are organised numerically too, which was easy to do as most of the numbers did not exceed four digits, CDs are not so easy so I usually group them via composer and genre, orchestral, chamber, solo instrumental, choral, stage works. This was the way the old Gramophone Classical Catalogue listed them, and it works well. I also have the whole lot indexed by composer on 6" x 4" index cards in 6 old wooden library drawers. Every composer has a coloured card with their full name, dates, nationality and a short biography, then every piece has its own card with the piece listed at the top and then all the recordings I possess of it listed under it (artists/label/number/format/mono or stereo), all of this is written out by hand, ye Gods but I wouldn't like to have to write it all out again from scratch, but when I started it thirty years ago, I had a lot fewer records than now!! It does mean that I can very quickly find any piece and what recordings I have, again each composer's works are listed via genre as detailed above. 
My other recordings, jazz, dance bands, music hall, comedy etc. are ordered by genre and then label, and that seems to work pretty well for me. Whew!


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## Becca

All digital/CD collection is organized alphabetically by composer, within which they are also alphabetical by the (principal) work on the disk. The only exception to this is for instrumental/vocal recital discs which are within the above but filed by the name of the performer.

I also have a computerized list of all works on CD and computer files (FLAC) with each piece being a separate record. This list is cross-referenced by a somewhat arbitrary disc name, composer name, performing group, conductor (if any) and soloists. Each data record also has various notes, format of item (CD, FLAC, etc.). Also included is a 'filed under' field so that discs which have multiple composers can be easily located.

The vinyl record collection, currently in storage, is also organized the same way but is not catalogued.


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## agoukass

I have a DVD cabinet in which I organize most of the CDs that I listen to on a regular basis. In the center is where all of the composers are and I organized them alphabetically (Albinoni to Vivaldi) and then I organize them by genre. For example, Beethoven's symphonies appear first and are followed by other orchestral music, then his piano music, then his chamber music, and so on down the line.

On the right side are shelves that for different instrumental artists. The top three shelves are dedicated to pianists, but they're not in any kind of real order. It stars with Cortot, Marcelle Meyer, and Horowitz and then it works through the Great Pianists of the 20th Century collection volumes. The third shelf is volumes from RCA's Rubinstein Collection that was issued in the late 1990s. Underneath that is a small section where I keep string recordings with some leftover and then there's another piano shelf for my complete Richter and Ciccolini boxed sets. Underneath it all is an orchestral section where I keep my Rattle and CBSO box.

On the left, the shelves are a bit more disorganized. The top two are completely operas, then there's singers, and then there's more boxed sets (Tortelier, Composers in Person, Hefeitz/Piatigorsky), and others that either don't fit on the other shelves or ones which I have been too lazy to remove.


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## jegreenwood

Since my files are all ripped to my hard drive, and accessed though JRiver I can basically sort/filter any way I want.


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## Bulldog

When I did organize my CD's, it was by the composer's last name. Now, they're all over the place and I like it better; every day is a surprise.


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## apricissimus

I think that trying to categorize music is hopeless. Any categorization system will break down at some point. So I just sort my music alphabetically by the last name of whoever gets top billing on the album. This is pretty straightforward (usually) for non-classical music. For classical music, it could be the composer, or the conductor, or even a featured soloist. Basically it comes down to whoever's name is printed in the largest font on the album cover.

There are some albums that get lumped into a "Various Artists" category if there are, say, two or more composers that are equally prominently represented on the album cover or spine.

This system works well for me it removes almost all of the judgment from how I sort them.


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