New York Philharmonic: The Authorized Recordings, 1917-2005 »

This is a complete discography of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra's recordings, from 1917 to the present day. Entries contain relevant details such as music, performers, session dates and venues, recording companies and producers, first release dates, and all issues of the recording, on 78-rpm discs, 45-rpm discs, Long-Playing records, and Compact Discs.

Library Journal

Freelance journalist and music critic North's monumental discography lists more than 1500 recordings made from 1917 to 2005 by one of the premier orchestras in America. It begins with a helpful introduction that explains issues of inclusion as well as the history of the New York Philharmonic and its relationships with various record companies. The entries, each seven to eight lines long, are organized chronologically by the date of the recording session and contain such information as recording venue, release date, record company, producer, matrix numbers and takes used, and issue numbers on 78-rpm discs, LPs, and CDs. Occasionally, notes appear in italics. Several appendixes serve as indexes and consist of separate lists of composers, conductors, and soloists. The appendixes also include a list of Ginn & Company 78-rpm records made in the 1920s as illustrative material for an elementary textbook and the Young People's Concerts hosted by Leonard Bernstein from 1958 to 1971. One of the chief decisions the author/compiler of such a reference work must make is how to handle unauthorized/pirated editions, which are excluded here. Though wishing to avoid such a quagmire is understandable, several unauthorized recordings-e.g., conductor Dmitri Mitropoulos's 1950s-era Mahler, Symphony No. 1-are now freely available from Internet suppliers. It might have been useful to include a section with the better-known and available unauthorized recordings, though this is perhaps material for another book. Bottom Line A tremendous undertaking containing much obscure information, this is a seminal reference work that belongs in every large music collection because of its historical value.-Bruce R. Schueneman, Texas A&M Univ. Lib., Kingsville Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.