# index of classical music recordings



## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Is there an online index of classical music recordings? 

If not, can we make one?


----------



## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

There once was the Schwann catalogue.

Make one?  Be your guest  It would be an impossible undertaking, but every journey begins with a single step.

Discogs might be the closest thing to an online catalogue.


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Some years back I did some work for a water utility that had spent half a million dollars to make a listing of its assets valued over $100. The database was no longer in use after two years. They had made no provisions to keep it updated as assets were added, retired, or switched out. Beware!


----------



## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

wow - what an enterprise!

It would be an enormous undertaking. The fans of a particular artist or composer have a heck of a job doing this for a small spectrum of recordings - Callas enthusiasts for instance quickly become entangled in the sticky mess of re-releases, re-engineered, re-labelled, pirated recordings and it takes incredible detective skills to determine what is out there

then there are the compilations and boxed sets - even the editors of the Penguin guide gave up on trying to list these a long time ago, not to mention the original/remastered discs 

Added to which, there isn't an easily accessed definition of what would constitute 'classical' music

but, it would certainly keep you busy in the long, dark evenings of winter (for a few lifetimes)


----------



## Jos (Oct 14, 2013)

Wow, Science, now there is ambition!
I've made an unorganised attempt at an index for only the label TurnaboutVox and that alone is a mer a boire . (I failed miserably, it's a very untransparent business, the recordingindustry, and my online detectiveskills are not up to scratch)
The already mentioned Discogs may be a startingpoint, but still.....


----------



## apricissimus (May 15, 2013)

Maybe the closest thing would be this:

https://www.discogs.com/

They have many millions of recordings cataloged, in all kinds of formats, though it's not all classical. It's incomplete of course, but growing all the time.


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

apricissimus said:


> Maybe the closest thing would be this:
> 
> https://www.discogs.com/
> 
> They have many millions of recordings catalogued, in all kinds of formats, though it's not all classical. It's incomplete of course, but growing all the time.


But as usual, if one thinks it's complete another one says its not, that's why it's good that we have none.


----------



## apricissimus (May 15, 2013)

Pugg said:


> But as usual, if one thinks it's complete another one says its not, that's why it's good that we have none.


I find it useful.


----------



## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

In another context, it has been said that there is no surer route to the mad house than to attempt a complete bibliography on almost any subject. (And personal experience suggest that it is essentially true, even if I didn't exactly end up in an asylum.)


----------



## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

It's been about 120 years, but I find that the 78 rpm era is pretty completely documented now. You just have to be patient. In another 80 years, CDs will be documented too.


----------

