iTunes: Two albums with same name AND album artist

[Prodo123]

I've been tagging my cluttered classical music library and came across 3 recordings of Karajan's recording of Mozart's Requiem Mass.
The three versions are denoted only by their years, which are 1987, 1975 and 1962. The 1987 recording is here:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/mo...uiem/id4569134
It was with the Wiener Philharmoniker (Vienna Philharmonic), so the album artist is listed as Herbert von Karajan & Wiener Philharmoniker.

Unfortunately, take a look at the other two:
1975: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/mo...uiem/id4347971
1962: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/mo...em/id402152677

Album Name: "Mozart: Requiem"
Album Artist: "Berliner Philharmoniker & Herbert von Karajan"

Although all three have the same album name, the 1975 and 1962 also happens to share its ALBUM ARTIST! I've tried many ways including modifying the Sort Album field but iTunes keeps combining these two albums into one album. I cannot find a way to split them, find the right album cover from iTunes for the 1962, and whatnot. Can someone help me organize these albums?

Also, this is bound to be a common issue when organizing my classical collection because Karajan made multiple versions of many pieces with the same orchestras. I'd appreciate a rather permanent and replicable solution...

[GGJstudios]

iTunes uses 4 fields to determine which albums sort together:

• Album
• Album Artist
• Sort Album
• Sort Album Artist

As long as all tracks have matching information in those tags, the album will sort together.

[Prodo123]

Originally Posted by GGJstudios

iTunes uses 4 fields to determine which albums sort together:

• Album
• Album Artist
• Sort Album
• Sort Album Artist

As long as all tracks have matching information in those tags, the album will sort together.

Sort Album is different; one is set to Mozart: Requiem 1 and the other to 2, yet it still groups them together.

[GGJstudios]

Originally Posted by Prodo123

Sort Album is different; one is set to Mozart: Requiem 1 and the other to 2, yet it still groups them together.

You might try deleting the albums in question from your library, then re-adding them.

[Prodo123]

Originally Posted by GGJstudios

You might try deleting the albums in question from your library, then re-adding them.

It re-added them to the same album!

[Big Byte]

A beautiful piece!

I'm taking a guess here, but why not rename the works to include at the end (in parenthesis) the year of release. So, Requiem ('62), Requiem ('75) and Requiem ('87)? Wouldn't that work as now you have three different album names, even though they may be by the same artist?

[Prodo123]

Originally Posted by Big Byte

A beautiful piece!

I'm taking a guess here, but why not rename the works to include at the end (in parenthesis) the year of release. So, Requiem ('62), Requiem ('75) and Requiem ('87)? Wouldn't that work as now you have three different album names, even though they may be by the same artist?

I've been trying to avoid doing that as iTunes will not be able to assign album covers from the store to each song.

Funny enough, my iPhone has a better time separating the pieces. It lists the '87 and '75 recording on their respective albums, and a 3rd album containing the '62 and '75 recordings. So it does separate into 3 albums, but with the wrong pieces.

I guess if push comes to shove I'll have to take your advice and just rename the albums :/

[pjfla]

Originally Posted by Prodo123

I've been tagging my cluttered classical music library and came across 3 recordings of Karajan's recording of Mozart's Requiem Mass.
The three versions are denoted only by their years, which are 1987, 1975 and 1962. The 1987 recording is here:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/mo...uiem/id4569134
It was with the Wiener Philharmoniker (Vienna Philharmonic), so the album artist is listed as Herbert von Karajan & Wiener Philharmoniker.

Unfortunately, take a look at the other two:
1975: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/mo...uiem/id4347971
1962: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/mo...em/id402152677

Album Name: "Mozart: Requiem"
Album Artist: "Berliner Philharmoniker & Herbert von Karajan"

Although all three have the same album name, the 1975 and 1962 also happens to share its ALBUM ARTIST! I've tried many ways including modifying the Sort Album field but iTunes keeps combining these two albums into one album. I cannot find a way to split them, find the right album cover from iTunes for the 1962, and whatnot. Can someone help me organize these albums?

Also, this is bound to be a common issue when organizing my classical collection because Karajan made multiple versions of many pieces with the same orchestras. I'd appreciate a rather permanent and replicable solution...

Had the same problem with a Jay Z album. I did as another poster suggested... deleted the album (from iTunes folder, not iMac) and brought it back into iTunes. And I also hand entered all meta data and it was fixed.

[DavoteK]

Originally Posted by Prodo123

I've been trying to avoid doing that as iTunes will not be able to assign album covers from the store to each song.

I know it sounds like a ballache, but I've actually added all the artwork to all my albums manually. That way, if I copy them to another of my computers, the artwork is already embedded in the file, instead of relying on iTunes to find it for me remotely again.

Perhaps acquiring the album artwork and pasting it in to the artwork section for the album and then you can call it what you want then.

[Prodo123]

Originally Posted by pjfla

Had the same problem with a Jay Z album. I did as another poster suggested... deleted the album (from iTunes folder, not iMac) and brought it back into iTunes. And I also hand entered all meta data and it was fixed.

Did not work for me, unfortunately...
I guess I'll have to go with the last resort until Apple figures out how to tell 1976 from 1962 x)
Thanks for your help!

[gnasher729]

Originally Posted by Prodo123

Although all three have the same album name, the 1975 and 1962 also happens to share its ALBUM ARTIST! I've tried many ways including modifying the Sort Album field but iTunes keeps combining these two albums into one album. I cannot find a way to split them, find the right album cover from iTunes for the 1962, and whatnot. Can someone help me organize these albums?

I tend to add space characters to one album name. If that doesn't work then adding an alt-space character should definitely do it.