Classical music file naming conventions?

[Boomzilla]

I posted this question originally in the "Boomzilla's Journey" thread, but it got lost among the other conversations.

I've sorted my non-classical music, standardizing naming by track name - artist. But I'm struggling with naming conventions for the classical music files. The reason I'm trying to label my classical music is (primarily) so that I can find and delete duplicates. As they are listed now (by album), NONE of the labels are even similar, so I can't tell if I have one copy of a piece - or three - or twelve! Some list tracks in the composer's own filing system (K12:16) without even giving the common name for the track.

Compared to sorting the non-classical library, I think the damned classical stuff is going to be an unbelievable nightmare. I've asked my daughter and my son in law (both of whom play classical instruments) what system they use. My daughter just says "she's never been good with that stuff," and son in law hasn't had time to respond yet. I'm hoping to get some good suggestions from him.

The (main) problem is that there just seems to be absolutely NO standard naming convention in the entire classical music world. Every recording label seems to do it differently, and even different recordings of the SAME MUSIC on the SAME LABEL often seem to list tracks differently depending on who is playing (London Symphony vs. Vienna Symphony, for example), who is conducting, and even when/where the recording was made.

The nightmare multiplies exponentially when you get a CD with more than one composer's music on it, or when you get a CD titled by the performer, who plays a variety of composers or with a variety of backup groups.

I try to get my head around this problem, and it feels like my brain will explode! Nothing I've been able to come up with seems to be versatile enough to do everything I want it to.

For symphonic works, maybe: Composer - Track Name - Orchestra - Conductor .extension

So, for example: Beethoven - Symphony 6 (Pastoral) - Chicago Symphony - Fritz Reiner.wav

But things become more complicated for chamber music or opera. Maybe: Composer - Track Name - Soloist(s) - Artist(s) .extension

So, for example: Verdi - La Traviata - Sutherland / Pavarotti / Manuguerra - National Philharmonic Orchestra / Richard Boynage (conductor).wav or
Schubert - Streichquintett C-Dur D 956 (Op. 163 - Allegro Ma Non Troppo) - YoYo Ma (cello) - Emerson String Quartet / Mstislav Rostopovich.wav

However, this becomes significantly more difficult with CDs of tracks where not all the information is given. Some discs by a certain artist may contain tracks by various composers (where the listener is assumed to be familiar enough with the music not to need the composer listed), or tracks from multiple compositions (an aria from one opera, for example, followed by an aria from a different opera).

I feel sure that SOME practical and semi-generic convention must exist for naming classical music files, but I haven't been able to find it yet. Any ideas?

Thanks - Boom

Postscriptum: The internet suggests including loads of c**p that would be useless to me including catalog number, version number, etc. etc. etc. I want a simple to use format (I don't want to spend the next few years renaming classical music files), and, very obviously, what the internet suggests as "the standard file naming conventions" are neither "standard" nor "conventions" since not a single one of the HUNDREDS of classical CDs in my collection uses anything like what they're suggesting. I think some classical music nerd who hasn't seen the sun in years just invented what HE thought a file naming convention should be and then, with no justification whatsoever, and no feedback from anyone else, posted his c**p on the internet to bedevil honest and gullible people.

[Boomzilla]

OK, so apparently nobody else knows either. The choices I face are:

1) set up and implement my own “Boom-Standard” file naming convention and then spend months applying it by manually renaming literally thousands of files, or

2) walk away from the whole mess and use the album-based structure that’s the current default.

I say the heck with it. I’ve already wasted too much time with non-classical files, and with the search engine capabilities of Roon, I am convinced that I can live with the status-quo!

[kzboray]

Classical music naming is complicated, no doubt. I use a ripper called dbpoweramp which offers the ability to create if /then type presets for naming. So for example...

[IFVALUE]composer,[composer],[IFCOMP]Various Artists[][IF!COMP][artist][][]/[album]/[track] [artist] - [title]

Gives me:

Frederic H. Cowen
....Cowen: Symphony No. 6 in E major 'The idyllic":
........Douglas Bostock - Symphony No. 6 in E major ("The Idyllic"): 1. Allegro vivace - animato.flac
........Douglas Bostock - Symphony No. 6 in E major ("The Idyllic"): 2. Allegro scherzando - tranquillo.flac
........etc, etc

This is highly dependent on having all the proper tags declared which can be tedious, but I thought it might be something you can look into.

[Boomzilla]

Thanks most kindly kzboray - I already have dbpoweramp and will check it out!