Alfred Scholz again

I have just added release https://musicbrainz.org/release/0dde8f6d-f6f1-4f2d-95fd-65ed85e38cd6 and in the annotation I have noted that I believe at least some of the recordings are due to Alfred Scholz - see Budget recordings of Alfred Scholz - MusicBrainz Wiki

I am getting AcoustID matches between the recordings on this disc and others, very often on compilation discs, but often credited to completely different artists. I have put in merge requests when the metadata for recordings agree and refrained when they don’t. Also some of the artists credited are genuine ones known to be used dishonestly by Scholz.

Without having much confidence that the credits on the CD booklet are correct, I wonder how much is worth doing here. Is there a way to mark advanced relationships as of low confidence? I wouldn’t say the basic data for the release is of poor quality as the track titles and track credits, which are to the composers as it is a classical release, are I believe correct.

Does anyone fancy reviewing that release?

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You are correct to be wary about merging too many tracks based on only AcoustID. It is common to find errors in an AcoustID list as maybe someone did a “lookup by name” in a tagging app, found the wrong release then uploaded confused data.

I don’t have knowledge of the actual music you have, but clicked on one good example: Track "53c4b881-cdbb-474e-b9fc-d853632a647a" | AcoustID

Anything with only one sample on that page I would be concerned about. There are at least four different orchestras listed in there. I’d be reading each and every recording to try and find some other reason to say they are the same before triggering a merge.

Some people use tagging apps without enough care and too much trust. When 1000 tracks are being matched on a Lookup by Name it is easy for tracks with common names like this to be attached to totally different releases without data being properly checked. (I have spent way too many hours wading through AcoustID data :crazy_face:)

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I’m not part of Alf Cleanup Team but here are, maybe if it helps, the Alfred Scholz topics.

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Ivan, thanks for your reply. The AcoustID you give as an example is a good one. The London Festival Orchestra is one Afred is known to credit incorrectly, as are The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra. Janos Sandor is a conductor he also used incorrectly and Frank Shipway is fictitious.

So I think on balance of probably that AcoustID is probably right here, that these are actually the same recording but we really don’t know who the orchestra and conductor actually are. Maybe a scratch orchestra and Alfred Scholz himself.

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What I would do is make use of the annotations and document your knowledge. Add notes about when you know the different credits are being used and it will help others understand. (Even better if you have external references) Otherwise you may find people trying to “correct” these based on reading the incorrect cover artwork.

The fact the recordings are all of such common lengths does add as a good flag that they could be common. I’d be also checking how many other tracks on those Releases are common. Playing one piece to look the same to AcoustID could be possible. Playing multiple pieces identically would be impossible and give you a better reassurance that the same Release is in your hands but with changed credits.

Compilations like this do often overlap using the same tracks. I see it in other music styles too. regular repacking

Edit: AHA!! Now I understand: https://musicbrainz.org/recording/8e80447a-90c9-4bc8-9a18-35c66a30c0df

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