Concertino for iPhone makes Apple Music and classical music work together, at last

Apple Music was not created for classical music due to its focus on tracks versus multi-movement works which are based on multiple composers, works, performers and so forth.

Enter Concertino, a native iOS app and web service by Adriano Brandão which attempts to transform Apple Music into a classical music jukebox that not only lets you browse composers, genres and periods, but also create custom playlists of multi-movement works, start radio stations and more — all without any additional charge beyond your Apple Music membership.

From the app’s description:

Albums and tracks are convenient for popular music but not suitable at all for classical music and its large, fragmented works. Say hi to a classical music player designed for multi-movement sets, that presents both a detailed view of each movement and a global progress bar of the work as a whole.

Concertino takes advantage of the Open Opus library and automated analysis of the Apple Music metadata to allow Apple Music members to enjoy classical works without hiccups.

These radio stations are basically curated playlist of classical music

This is a huge deal given the current, sad state of classical music on Apple’s streaming platform which was thoroughly analyzed in extraordinary detail two years ago by Franz Rumiz, Kirk McElhearn and many others. Upon authorizing Concertino to use your Apple Music account, you can start browsing composers, genres and periods, as well as create your own playlists, organize recordings by setting them favorites and more.

As mentioned, Concertino predominantly features multi-movement works. The software provides access to classical pieces from 220 composers, with “tens of thousands of works” conveniently organized in several ways, including alphabetically, by genre/period and more.

Concertino’s web app running in the Safari browser

The web app available at concertino.app allows you to access the service from a Mac or Windows PC or any other device with a standards-compliant web browser.

As someone who creates digital content for a living, I’m especially glad that each recording available through Concertino comes with full credits of its performers, completed with orchestras, conductors, soloists, singers, chamber groups and what have you.

Concertino for iPhone is available free on the App Store.