Apple Music Classical, the classical music streaming service introduced in early 2023, received a version 2.0 update today that brings a couple of worthwhile new features to the iPhone and iPad app.
This latest version of the app adds album booklets for thousands of albums. Album booklets offer multi-language liner notes, composer biographies, information about the orchestra, conductors, and soloists, plus where relevant, sung texts and opera libretti, enriching listeners’ understanding of the music.
When a booklet is available for an album you’ve selected, you’ll see an open book icon in the top-right corner of the screen. Tapping that will download the booklet, which can be viewed by using zoom gestures and scrolled to reveal more content. In addition to album booklets, version 2.0 also adds a new Recently Added section to the Library.
The Apple Music Classical app offers Apple Music subscribers access to over five million classical music tracks, including new high-quality releases, in addition to hundreds of curated playlists, thousands of exclusive albums, and other features like composer bios and deep dives on key works.
The app offers a simpler interface for interacting with classical music specifically. Unlike the vanilla Apple Music app, Apple Music Classical allows you to search by composer, work, conductor, catalog number, and more. You can get more detailed information from editorial notes and descriptions.
Apple commissioned high-resolution digital portraits of famous composers like Ludwig van Beethoven, Frédéric Chopin, and Johann Sebastian Bach for the app, using color palettes and artistic references from the relevant classical period, with more unique artwork to be added over time.