Apple has released a new app and service. Apple Music Classical is a standalone music streaming app that enables Apple Music subscribers to find recordings in the world’s largest classical music catalogue. The new service boasts Apple’s Spatial Audio feature which creates an immersive listening experience through supported headphones and speakers.
Apple Music Classical is available on the App Store beginning today and is with all Apple Music subscriptions except the Apple Music Voice Plan.
Apple Music Classical boasts a library of over five million tracks which the company says is the world’s largest classical music catalogue. The library covers a broad spectrum from celebrated recordings to forgotten gems. Apple says the hand-picked Editor’s Choice curation is a great place to start if you’re new to the world of classical music as is the app’s list of popular recordings. Apple Music Classical also features thousands of exclusive albums, including recordings by world-famous orchestras as well as over 700 curated playlists.
Classical music is not structured in the same way as popular music. Many pieces have hundreds of recordings with different orchestras, conductors and soloists; and many composers have their own special catalogue classifications. Apple Music Classical has a customised search function that helps listeners find what they are looking using all combinations of keywords, from composer and work, to opus number, conductor, artist or instrument, and even a work’s nickname. Looking up a work reveals all its recordings, plus an Editor’s Choice performance. And searching for a composer displays all available works.
The Apple Music Classical interface ensures listeners know who and what they’re hearing with everything laid out at a glance. When it comes to curating a personal library, Apple Music Classical lets listeners add more than just albums, tracks, playlists and artists — it also supports uniquely classical categories such as works, composers and recordings.
Apple Music Classical features lossless audio of up to 24 bit/192 kHz so listeners can experience the nuances of every performance. The Hi-Res Lossless mode is crisp and clear so that each note feels close enough to touch. Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos makes it feel like you have the best seat in the concert hall. Apple Music Classical’s Spatial Audio catalogue adds new albums every week as legendary recordings are remastered and contemporary performances are captured in Spatial Audio.
As you’d expect, Apple has not skimped on making the app attractive with exclusive artwork that includes hundreds of playlist covers, as well as unique, high-resolution digital portraits for many of the world’s greatest composers. Commissioned from a diverse group of artists, each image blends historical research with colour palettes and artistic references from the relevant classical period.
Apple Music has partnered with many of the greatest classical institutions in the world — including the Berlin Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, Opéra National de Paris, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony and the Vienna Philharmonic — to bring Apple Music Classical listeners new, unique and exclusive content and recordings at launch and beyond. Apple Music Classical will also host several live orchestral performances featuring a few of these incredible partners at Apple Store locations around the world as part of the Today at Apple programming beginning in March 2023.
Apple Music Classical is available for download on the App Store everywhere Apple Music is offered, excluding China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, Taiwan and Türkiye. Existing Apple Music subscribers can immediately enjoy Apple Music Classical at no additional cost. It is not available with the Apple Music Voice Plan.
Apple Music Classical is available for all iPhone models running iOS 15.4 or later with an Android version coming soon.
Anthony is the founder of Australian Apple News. He is a long-time Apple user and former editor of Australian Macworld. He has contributed to many technology magazines and newspapers as well as appearing regularly on radio and occasionally on TV.