The Russian/Soviet orchestras have serious problems around Artist name.
The problem has multiple elements:
- They change their proper Russian name repeatedly.
- The Russian names are often long and, I suspect, get abbreviated in Russian for common use.
- These names and the abbreviated ones are translated into English in a variety of ways. EG The same orchestra name may be translated in part: Large or Grand. Or that word might be missed from the translated name.
- Some of the orchestras are now centuries old.
- The current MB Search Result Suggestions can’t provide resolution and can easily mislead by showing an erroneous orchestra with the same name.
- MB disambiguations of orchestras would need at least a paragraph to be effective. They would include dates of name changes, associated conductors and venues, and the common translations over the years.
A way towards greater usability would for each orchestra to be treated as a Series of Artists.
Each official name in Russian would be an Artist.
Each official name change would trigger the creation of a new Artist in the Series.
Each Artist would have its date ranges and the Series name for that Orchestra in a disambig.
There would still be the possibility for confusion.
But clarity would be increased.
Other’s views, other ways forward, technicalnobstacles?