The first killer Apple TV app is about classical music

I don’t know what you get up to in the privacy of your own living room. Perhaps you perch on the sofa with a TV dinner. Maybe you sit around pushing Pringles into your mouth as you watch David Dimbleby on Question Time. Maybe you straddle the coffee table and pretend to wield a conducting baton as your cat dispassionately watches you flail around.

If the latter is the case, this app is for you. Even if you’re not an orchestra-obsessed pet owner, this app could be for you. It’s a classical music app from Touchpress, and it has a strong case for being the most interesting Apple TV app currently out there.

Classical Music Reimagined takes a dissector’s approach to classical music, in that it splits masterpieces such as Liszt’s Sonata in B minor and Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons into their composite parts using a range of beautiful visualisations. Play Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, for example, and you can swap between a video of Leonard Bernstein conducting the first movement, a scrolling score and a Beatmap showing which parts of the orchestra are playing.

Compared to the standard games’n’films taking up space on Apple’s tvOS, it’s interesting to see that one of the most eye-catching Apple TV apps is ultimately about classical music. While the hybrid between TV and apps holds a lot of promise for new types of entertainment, Touchpress’ app suggests that the Apple TV has a lot of potential when it comes to reinventing the way audiences see and listen to more traditional culture.

“New technology can open up classical music to new audiences and it is wonderful to see Touchpress developing world-class digital cultural experiences,” said Stephen Hough, the pianist playing Liszt’s Sonata in B minor on the app.

For now, the app has a handful of performances, but Touchpress say they are planning to roll out regular updates of famous compositions. With a strong catalogue, it could end up turning on a whole new audience to classical music. 

For more info on how apps are shaking up traditional culture, read our take on how iPads are changing the way we visit museums.

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