This is an ongoing project to document my record collection. It includes primarily classical music releases from the 1950s/1960s with cover artwork of interest, but also some poetry, art records/multiples (with a focus on Fluxus artists), sound sculpture recordings and early musique concrète.

I am particularly interested in the following classical music labels and series:

Columbia Masterworks (ML 2000 / ML 4000 / SL 100 / A 1500)

Orchestra

Cleveland Orchestra - Pierre Boulez / Erich Leinsdorf / Artur Rodziński / Igor Stravinsky / George Szell
Columbia Symphony Orchestra - Thomas Beecham / Leonard Bernstein / Aaron Copland / Morton Gould / Werner Janssen / Fritz Reiner / Igor Stravisky / George Szell / Bruno Walter
Little Orchestra Society - Thomas Scherman
London Philharmonic Orchestra - Thomas Beecham
London Symphony Orchestra - Pierre Boulez / Aaron Copland / Lovro von Matačić / Malcolm Sargent / Felix Weingartner
Louisville Orchestra - Robert Whitney
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra - Maurice Abravanel / Fritz Busch / Pietro Cimara / Fausto Cleva / Igor Stravinsky / Bruno Walter
New York Philharmonic - John Barbirolli / Leonard Bernstein / Pierre Boulez / Efrem Kurtz / Dimitri Mitropoulos / Charles Munch / Artur Rodziński / Leopold Stokowski / Igor Stravinsky / Werner Torkanowsky / Bruno Walter
Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française - Ernest Bour / Darius Milhaud
Philadelphia Orchestra / Robin Hood Dell Orchestra - Thomas Beecham / Andre Kostelanetz / Eugene Ormandy / Bruno Walter
Philharmonia Orchestra - Anthony Bernard / Peter Gellhorn / Herbert von Karajan
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra - Fritz Reiner
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - Thomas Beecham / Efrem Kurtz
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra - Vladimir Golschmann
Wiener Philharmoniker - Herbert von Karajan / Bruno Walter
Wiener Symphoniker - Herbert Häfner / Heinrich Hollreiser / Paul Sacher / Hans Swarowsky

Ensembles

American Art Quartet - Budapest String Quartet - Busch Quartet - Juilliard String Quartet - New Music String Quartet - Philadelphia Woodwind Quintet - Philharmonic Piano Quartet - Walden String Quartet

Musicians

Claudio Arrau - Victor Babin - Artur Balsam - Samuel Barber - Jan Behr - Leonard Bernstein - E. Power Biggs - Adolf Busch - Robert Casadesus - Philippe Entremont - Rudolf Firkušný - Robert Fizdale - Leon Fleisher - Zino Francescatti - Walter Gieseking - Arthur Gold - Glenn Gould - Leonid Hambro - Mieczyslaw Horszowski - Hans Hotter - Eugene Istomin - Ralph Kirkpatrick - Louis Krasner - Edmund Kurtz - Oscar Levant - Dinu Lipatti - Frances Magnes - William Masselos - Frank Miller - Dimitri Mitropoulos - Elena Nikolaidi - David Oistrakh - Vincent Persichetti - Ezio Pinza - André Previn - Leonard Rose - György Sándor - Alexander Schneider - Walter Schneiderhan - Albert Schweitzer - Rudolf Serkin - Zadel Skolovsky - Eleanor Steber - Isaac Stern - Edward Steuermann - Joseph Szigeti - Jennie Tourel - Helen Traubel - Richard Tucker - William Vacchiano - Vitya Vronsky - Alexander Zakin - Vera Zorina

Artists / Designers

Walter Allner - Charles Alston - Emil Antonucci - Arnold Ferdinand Arnold - Richard Avedon - Jan Balet - Eugene Berman - James Brooks - Bob Cato - Ronald Clyne - Stuart Davis - Jim Flora - Gray Foy - Antonio Frasconi - S. Neil Fujita - Milton Glaser - Charles Goslin - Abner Graboff - Rudolph de Harak - Karel Kezer - Jason Kirby - Jerome Kühl - Roy Kuhlman - Jacob Landau - Herbert Leupin - Leo Lionni - Alvin Lustig - Arnaud Maggs - Saul Mandel - Herb Meyers - Monogram (studio) - Irving Penn - Fred Plaut -  Ben Shahn - Jerome Snyder - Alex Steinweiss - Pavel Tchelitchew - Andy Warhol - Jacques Willaumez - Erle Yahn - Alfred Zalon


Columbia Masterworks was known for its superior recording and sound quality, as well as for the collaboration with renowned musicians and orchestra. Both Igor Stravinsky and Leonard Bernstein conducted several of their own works for this label. Most recordings were made with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra. The mono ML and accompanying SL (box sets) and A (7”) series started in the late 1940s and continued until about 1960, when they were replaced by the MS (stereo) series.
Early releases had generic two-tone covers in various colors but some would be released with a unique design later on. Most of the record covers in this series were designed by Alex Steinweiss, arguably the most important and prolific cover designer of the era, who already started working for Columbia in the late 1930s. The cover art in this series is mainly of interest because of the great diversity of designers and artists that contributed, often in collaboration with the New York art studio Monogram.


Columbia Entré (RL / EL)

Orchestra

Chicago Symphony Orchestra - Frederick Stock
City of Birmingham Orchestra - George Weldon
Cleveland Orchestra - Artur Rodziński
Concertgebouworkest - Willem Mengelberg
Hallé Orchestra - Hamilton Harty / Leslie Heward / Malcolm Sargent
La Scala Opera Orchestra / Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano - Lorenzo Molajoli
Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra - Malcolm Sargent
London Philharmonic Orchestra - Antal Doráti / Walter Goehr / Hamilton Harty / Efrem Kurtz
Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra - Dimitri Mitropoulos
New York Philharmonic - John Barbirolli / Darius Milhaud / Artur Rodziński
Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper - Herbert von Karajan / Max Schönherr
Philharmonia Orchestra - Warwick Braithwaite / Alceo Galliera / Paul Kletzki / Josef Krips / Constant Lambert / Malcolm Sargent / Walter Susskind / George Weldon
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra - Fritz Reiner
Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra - Erich Leinsdorf
Wiener Philharmoniker - Herbert von Karajan

Musicians

Giannina Arangi-Lombardi  - Salvatore Baccaloni - Vladimir Bakaleinikoff - Ralph Berkowitz - Dino Borgioli - Mercedes Capsir - Mafalda Favero - Maryla Jonas - Edward Kilenyi - Christopher Lynch - Witold Małcużyński - Luigi Marini - Denis Matthews - Antonio Melandri - Nathan Milstein - Theo van der Pas - Valentin Pavlovsky - Egon Petri - Gregor Piatigorsky - Michael Rabin - Giacomo Rimini  - György Sándor - Bianca Scacciati - Riccardo Stracciari - Pia Tassinari - Henri Temianka

Artists / Designers

Seymour Chwast - Ronald Clyne - Milton Glaser - Push Pin (studio) - Edward Sorel


Columbia Entré was a relatively short-lived low-budget label, much less extensive than Columbia Masterworks. All of the releases date from the 1953-1955 period and seem to have been mainly rereleases of popular Columbia recordings, aimed at a broad audience. Most of the covers from the RL series were designed by Ronald Clyne, which would be some of his earliest work. The accompanying EL series were opera box sets, rereleases of European recordings, mainly La Scala productions. The final releases from this series in 1955 included cover designs by Push Pin, which was an art studio founded by Seymour Chwast, Milton Glaser and Edward Sorel.


Concert Hall Society (CHS 1000) / Musical Masterpiece Society (MMS 2000)

Orchestra

Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra - Nikolai Golovanov / Alexander Melik-Pashayev / Alexander Stasevich
Concert Hall Symphony Orchestra - Otto Ackermann / Clemens Dahinden / Walter Goehr / John Walker
Frankfurter Opernorchester - Carl Bamberger / Walter Goehr
Hamburger Kammerorchester - Walter Goehr / Julius Patzak / Hans-Jürgen Walther
Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest - Otto Ackermann / Walter Goehr / Alexander Krannhals
Nord-Deutsches Symphonie Orchester - Carl Bamberger
Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper - Jean-Marie Auberson / Victor Desarzens / Walter Goehr / Hiroyuki Iwaki / Gianfranco Rivoli / Nello Santi / Hans Swarowsky / Henry Swoboda
Orchestre des Concerts de Paris - Carl Bamberger / Pierre-Michel Le Conte / Walter Goehr
Orchestre National de France - Pierre Boulez / Paul Kletzki / Carl Schuricht
Radio Orchester Zürich - Walter Goehr / Thomas Scherman
Radio-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt - Otto Ackermann / Walter Goehr
Residentie Orkest Den Haag - Willem van Otterloo / Carl Schuricht
Rochester Chamber Orchestra - Robert Hull
Südwestfunkorchester Baden-Baden - Paul Kletzki
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks - Carl Schuricht
Symphonieorchester Winterthur - Clemens Dahinden / Victor Desarzens / Walter Goehr / Walter Reinhart / Henry Swoboda
Tonhalle Orchester Zürich - Otto Ackermann
USSR State Radio Orchestra - Alexander Gauk / Aram Khachaturian
Utrechts Symfonie Orkest - Walter Goehr / Paul Hupperts / Ignace Neumark
Wiener Festspielorchester - Josef Krips / Willem van Otterloo
Wiener Symphoniker - Hans Swarowsky

Ensembles

Gordon String Quartet - Guilet String Quartet - Hungarian Quartet - Quatuor Pascal - Streich-Quartett Winterthur

Musicians

Artur Balsam - Sondra Bianca - Philippe Entremont - Agnes Giebel - Robert Goldsand - Bernard Greenhouse - Grant Johannesen - Hannes Kann - Louis Kaufman - John Kirkpatrick - Leonid Kogan - Lili Kraus - Nikita Magaloff - Noel Mewton-Wood - Ricardo Odnoposoff - David Oistrakh - Manoug Parikian - Egon Parolari - Vlado Perlemuter - Pina Pozzi - Leo Smit - Maria Stader - Heinz Rehfuss - Fernando Valenti - Erich Vollenwyder - Ventsislav Yankov

Artists / Designers

Emil Antonucci - Ivan Chermayeff - Abner Graboff - Vladimir Kagan - Roy Kuhlman - Miriam Schottland


Concert Hall Society was a label from the US with several European subsidiaries, the main one being Musical Masterpiece Society. Recordings were made with various orchestra all across Europe. The CHS series by Concert Hall Society ran from ca. 1950 until the mid-1950s, whereas the European MMS series started in the late 1950s and continued until the early 1960s, when it was replaced by the SMS (stereo) series. Some of the early recordings from the CHS series would be rereleased on the more extensive MMS series. Although Musical Masterpiece Society was a European label most of the cover designs were made by designers from the US, some of whom had already worked for the Concert Hall Society parent label.


Decca Gold (DL 7500 / DL 8500 / DL 9500 / DX 100)

Orchestra

Bamberger Symphoniker - Fritz Lehmann / Ferdinand Leitner / Otmar Suitner
Bayerisches Staatsorchester - Georg Solti / Richard Strauss
Berliner Philharmoniker - Max Fiedler / Ferenc Fricsay / Wilhelm Fürtwangler / Paul Hindemith / Eugen Jochum / Paul van Kempen / Fritz Lehmann / Ferdinand Leitner / Leopold Ludwig / Igor Markevitch / Victor de Sabata / Thomas Scherman / Paul Schmitz / Carl Schuricht
Concertgebouworkest - Eduard van Beinum / Herbert von Karajan
Dresdner Philharmonie - Paul van Kempen
Little Orchestra Society - Thomas Scherman
Los Angeles Philharmonic - Alfred Wallenstein
Münchner Philharmoniker - Fritz Lehmann / Ferdinand Leitner / Fritz Rieger
NWDR-Sinfonieorchester - Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt
Orchester der Staatsoper Berlin - Richard Strauss
Orchester der Württembergischen Staatstheater, Stuttgart - Ferdinand Leitner
Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Mexico - Carlos Chávez
Orquesta Zarzuela de Madrid - Roger Machado / Federico Moreno Torroba
Philharmonia Orchestra - Grzegorz Fitelberg / Walter Susskind
RIAS Sinfonieorchester - Ferenc Fricsay
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden - Robert Irvin / John Lanchbery / Hugo Rignold
Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden - Franz Konwitschny
Stadium Concerts Symphony Orchestra (members of the New York Philharmonic) - Leonard Bernstein
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks - Eugen Jochum

Ensembles

Bel Arte Trio - Fine Arts Quartet - Koeckert-Quartett - London Baroque Ensemble - Mannes-Gimpel-Silva Trio - Paganini Quartet - Quatuor Loewenguth - Trio Santoliquido - Virtuosi di Roma -  Zimbler Sinfonietta

Musicians

Adrian Aeschbacher - Claudio Arrau - Julius Baker - Artur Balsam - Emanuel Bay - Anshel Brusilow - Shura Cherkassky - Jörg Demus - Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau - Andor Földes - Lukas Foss - Jean Françaix - Harry Fuchs - Joseph Fuchs - Lilian Fuchs - Szymon Goldberg - Christel Goltz - Josef Greindl - Monique Haas - Ernst Haefliger - Jascha Heifetz - Mieczyslaw Horszowski - Hans Hotter - Eileen Joyce - Reginald Kell - Wilhelm Kempff - Hertha Klust - Lili Kraus - Annelies Kupper - Alicia de Larrocha - Lotte Lehmann - Ferdinand Leitner - Walther Ludwig - Enrico Mainardi - Sylvia Marlowe - Frank Miller - Gerald Moore - Laura Newell - Elly Ney - Michael Raucheisen - Helmut Roloff - Joel Rosen - Heinrich Schlusnus - Joseph Schmidt - Wolfgang Schneiderhan - Irmgard Seefried - Carl Seemann - Andrès Segovia - Frank Sheridan - Leo Smit - Maria Stader - Rita Streich - Conchita Supervia - Richard Tauber - Rosalyn Tureck - Eugenia Umińska - Ninon Vallin - Tibor Varga - Helmut Walcha - Erik Werba

Artists / Designers

Carl Fischer - Erik Nitsche - Alex Steinweiss - Joe Weitz


Most of the records in this series were originally recordings by Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft / Archiv Produktion that were released by Decca in the US, hence the large number of German orchestra and musicians. The series ran from the early 1950s until the late 1960s. Erik Nitsche designed or supervised nearly all of the cover designs in the 1950-1954 period, while Alex Steinweiss took over somewhere in the mid-1950s and occasionally reused some of the earlier Nitsche designs. Steinweiss would use his pseudonym “Piedra Blanca” specifically for this series.


Epic (LC 3000 / SC 6000)

Orchestra

Berliner Philharmoniker - Eugen Jochum / Paul van Kempen / Fritz Lehman / Willem van Otterloo
Camerata Academica des Mozarteums Salzburg - Rolf Maedel / Bernhard Paumgartner
Concertgebouworkest - Karl Böhm / Eugen Jochum / Paul van Kempen / Carlo Zecchi
Orchestre Lamoureux - Jean Fournet / Jean Martinon / Willem van Otterloo / Hans Rosbaud / Paul Sacher
Radio Filharmonisch Orkest - Paul van Kempen / Willem van Otterloo
Residentie Orkest Den Haag - Antal Doráti / Willem van Otterloo
Wiener Symphoniker - Karl Böhm / Wilhelm Loibner / Joseph Messner / Rudolf Moralt / Willem van Otterloo / Tibor Paul / Bernhard Paumgartner / John Pritchard / Paul Sacher / Franz Salmhofer / Eduard Strauss (II) / Carlo Zecchi

Ensembles

Amsterdam Piano Quintet - Choeurs Elisabeth Brasseur - Nederlands Kamerkoor - Wiener Kammerchor

Musicians

Pierrette Alarie - Feike Asma - Hubert Barwahser - Walter Berry - Laurens Bogtman - Rudolf Christ - Jean Doyen - Maurice Duruflé - Otto Edelmann - Karl Engel - Philippe Entremont - Leon Fleisher - Paul Godwin - Cor de Groot - Arthur Grumiaux - Ernst Haefliger - Clara Haskil - Alice Heksch - Hans Henkemans - Nap de Klijn - Waldemar Kmentt - Herman Krebbers - Tibor de Machula - Thomas Magyar - Felix de Nobel - Theo Olof - Magda Tagliaferro - Charles Rosen - Franz Sauer - Helen Schnabel - Karl Ulrich Schnabel - Richard Schönhofer - Leonard Shure - Abbey Simon - Jan Smeterlin - Alexander Uninsky - Luise Walker

Artists / Designers

Arnold Ferdinand Arnold - Gray Foy - Milton Glaser - Jacob Landau - Andy Warhol


Early releases in this series include mainly Philips recordings that were released by Epic in the US. Philips had contractual agreements with Dutch orchestra at the time but also with the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Wiener Symphoniker, amongst others. Arnold Ferdinand Arnold designed most of the record covers in the LC series, about 75 in total between 1954-1956, while Gray Foy designed most of the releases in the accompanying SC series (box sets).


Remington (R 199 / R 149)

Orchestra

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra - Thor Johnson
Mozarteumorchester Salzburg - Zoltán Fekete / Joseph Messner / Paul Walter / Fritz Weidlich
Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper - Hans Döhrer / Wilhelm Loibner
Orchestra del Teatro dell’Opera di Roma - Luigi Ricci
Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice - Franco Capuana / George Sebastian
Orchestre des Concerts Colonne - Georges Enesco
RIAS Sinfonieorchester - Gerhard Becker / Anatole Fistoulari / Jussi Jalas / Georg Ludwig Jochum / Otto Matzerath / Jonel Perlea / Manuel Rosenthal / Karl Rucht / Wolfgang Sawallisch / George Sebastian
Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich - Hine Arthur Brown / Fritz Busch / Zoltan Fekete / Vittorio Gui / Felix Günther / Robert Heger / Gustav Koslik / Wilhelm Loibner / Ernst Mehlich / Jean Moreau / Alexander Paulmüller / Gaston Poulet / Gottfried Preinfalk / Felix Prohaska / Gunther Rabhuber / Karl Randolf / Max Schönherr / Hermann Schwertmann / George Singer / Hermann Weigert / Hans Wolf / Kurt Wöss

Musicians

Helen Airoff - Rosette Anday - Michèle Auclair - Simon Barere - Béla Bartok - Erich Berg - Sari Biro - Ruthilde Boesch - Jorge Bolet - Gaspar Cassadó - Céliny Chailley-Richez - Ratko Delorko - Jörg Demus - Ernst von Dohnányi - Etelka Freund - John Gillespie - Conrad Hansen - Eugene Helmer - Daniza Ilitsch - Alexander Jenner - Hans Kahn - Felicitas Karrer - Edward Kilenyi - Alfred Kitchin - Paul Kling - Anthony Kooiker - Eugene List - Pierre Luboshutz - Sylvia Marlowe - Richard Matuschka - Carlos Montoya - Genia Nemenoff - Mona Paulee - Ivan Petroff - Gérard Poulet - Ossy Renardy - Helmut Roloff - Hildegard Rössel-Majdan - Frances Schimenti - Walter Schneiderhan - Otto Schulhof - Irmgard Seefried - Hilde Somer - Albert Spalding - Alec Templeton - Frieda Valenzi - Fritz Weidlich - Friedrich Wührer

Artists / Designers

Rudolph de Harak - Alex Steinweiss - Curt John Witt


Remington was a low-budget label in the 1950s, based in New York. Where other low-budget labels at the time would often just copy the recordings of more reputable labels, Remington made their own. Most of the early recordings were made with the Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich (as the “Austrian Symphony Orchestra”) and the later ones with the RIAS Sinfonieorchester.
The record covers in this series are of interest as they illustrate an early style of design that was introduced by Alex Steinweiss on the Columbia label in the late 1930s and which continued until the 1950s.


Westminster (WL 5000 / XWN 18000 / WST 14000)

Orchestra

London Philharmonic Orchestra - Adrian Boult / Dean Dixon / Artur Rodziński / Hermann Scherchen
Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia - Fernando Previtali
Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper (Wiener Philharmoniker) - Maurice Abravanel / Adrian Boult / Victor Desarzens / Dean Dixon / MIlan Horvath / Felix Prohaska / Argeo Quadri / Julius Rudel / Hermann Scherchen / Sayard Stone
Orchestre du Théâtre des Champs-Elysées - Paul Bonneau / Ernest Bour / Pedro de Freitas Branco / Ernesto Halffter
Wiener Symphoniker - Hermann Scherchen / Henry Swoboda
Symphonieorchester Winterthur - Clemens Dahinden / Angelo Ephrikian / Henry Swoboda

Ensembles

Amadeus-Quartett - Barylli Quartet - Curtis String Quartet - Janáček Quartet - London Baroque Ensemble - Smetana Quartet - Wiener Konzerthausquartett - Wiener Philharmoniker (wind group)

Musicians

Cecil Aronowitz - Paul Badura-Skoda - Walter Barylli - Franz Bastosek - Julian Bream - Jörg Demus - Paul Doktor - Ginette Doyen - José Échaniz - Edith Farnadi - Jean Fournier - Reine Gianoli - Franz Holetschek - Antonio Janigro - Magda Laszlo - Raymond Lewenthal - Karl Öhlberger - Julian Olevsky - Nadia Reisenberg - Vivian Rivkin - Vladimir Sokoloff - Ferdinand Stangler - Fou Ts’ong - Fernando Valenti - Leopold Wlach

Artists / Designers

Jon Buelow - Ronald Clyne - Bob Gill - Milton Glaser - Norman Graber - Rudolph de Harak - John Hubley - Herb Meyers - Sam Norkin - Joe Weitz


Westminster was a US label known for its superior sound quality and for the collaboration with renowned European orchestra, ensembles and musicians. The WL series was the main classical music series in the 1950s, which would be replaced by the XWN and WST (stereo) series by the late 1950s. Many of the recordings were made with the “Vienna State Opera” orchestra (Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper), which essentially were members of the Wiener Philharmoniker and Wiener Symphoniker, but those orchestra had contractual agreements with other labels at the time. Both the Barylli Quartet and Wiener Konzerthausquartett also consisted of members of the Wiener Philharmoniker. 
Like other labels from this era Westminster commissioned multiple designers to create the artwork for their record covers. Rudolph de Harak made a series of modernist cover designs that would become some of the most well-known in the classical music genre. Also Sam Norkin made most of his designs for this label. In Italy, several Westminster recordings were specially released for the local market by the Italian label Ricordi, with cover designs by Bruno Munari and Heinz Waibl, amongst others.