Sources for Recordings

Including LPs and Out-of-print Recordings

If you know who issued the recording you're looking for, check this list of Classical record labels. That page points to the list of the Distributors, below.

To search for current recordings, try any of the general sites. The links to specialist dealers are more useful for the serious collector.

General Retailers

Note that these are not endorsements, merely links.

• Classical Choice is a music store "dedicated exclusively to new and used Compact Discs in the areas of Classical, Jazz, Opera, Broadway Cast Albums, Movie Soundtracks and the best of American Popular Song."
  
  
• CD Connection claims to have "more than 140,000 imports, domestic releases, and hard to find compact discs."
  
  
• CD Now carries current releases in all categories. They do not specialize in classical but offer help for the beginning Classical collector.
  
  
• has a separate search engine for Classical.
  
  
• German Music Express may be able to supply discs that the US dealers cannot.
  
  

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• Music Discount Centres, in the UK, has an on-line Classical store with MIDI sound.
  
  
• H & B Direct is another large US store "Serving the Classical Collector."
  
  
• MDT, in the UK, is "an international mail order service for classical compact discs."
  
  
• CDs Unlimited, also in the UK, offers both new and second hand classical CDs.
  
  
• Red Hedgehog Music is a small, UK-based company run by music lovers for music lovers. They specialize in recordings normally unavailable in the UK, especially titles from Eastern Europe.
  
  
• The Strictly Music web site features Naxos and Marco Polo CDs.
  
  

Rare and out-of-print recordings

• Academy Records & CDs
  12 West 18th Street
  New York, NY 10011 USA
  Phone: (212) 242-3000, Fax: (212) 627-2671

• A Classical Record
  8-10 Camden Street
  Hackensack, NJ 07601
  phone: 201-488-9323, fax: 201-488-9325
  email: aclassrec@aol.com

• Berkshire Record Outlet, Inc. now has their complete catalog on line, with a search engine.
  Rte. 102 Pleasant St., RR 1, Lee, Massachusetts 01238-9804
  phone: 413 243 4080, fax: 413 243 4340, email:
  Japan email: ara@kiisnet.kiis.or.jp
  Berkshire has a large selection of LPs, CDs, and cassettes on many labels. Call or write for a printed catalog.

• Ethel Enterprises is a small retailer in North Carolina devoted to Classical Music & Opera on Compact Disc.

• Harold Moores Records, in London, has one of the worlds finest collections of rare Classical LPs and CDs for sale.
  2 Great Marlborough Street, London W1V 1DE
  phone: (0171) 437 1576, fax: (0171) 287 0377

• Irvington Music
  9580 NW Cornell Rd., Portland, OR 97229 USA
  phone: 503-297-2117 (pst 9am-6pm), fax: 503-297-2138 (24 hours)

• Saturn Records, in Oakland, California, has a very nice presentation and a large selection of collector's items.

• Mikrokosmos
  314 Churchill Avenue
  North York, Ontario
  M2R 1E7 CANADA
  Phone: 416 224-1956, Fax: 416 224-2964, email: mikro@interlog.com.
  handles rare and out-of-print classical. They are an excellent source for eastern European releases. Be sure to check their on-line lists.

• Parnassus Records
  56 Parnassus Lane
  Saugerties, NY 12477 USA
  Phone: 914 246-3332, Fax : 914 246-6584
  is a source for Classical LPs. They also produce their own CDs and video tapes.

• Polyphony
  Post Office Box #515
  Highland Park, Illinois 60035 U.S.A.
  Phone and Fax: 847 831-5577, email: Polyphony2@AOL.com
  specializes in Classical LPs and pre-recorded open-reel tapes, music-related books, and record catalogs.

• Vinyl Highway, formerly Looney Tunes, in Boston, has an extensive stock of audiophile and rare classical LPs. They may not list them on the web site, but they do reply promptly and accurately to email requests.

• D'Antiques has an entertaining site, especially if you have a MIDI plug-in for your browser. (Yamaha has a good one.)

Other Specialists

• Boris Zindels has a long list of Melodiya LPs, and ways to find them. He is located in Kiev, Ukraine. Send email to derman@mail.kar.net for more information.

• Musica Russica specializes in recordings and scores of Russian choral music, Russian Orthodox church music, Russian folk music, choral music of Ukraine, Belarus, Causcasus, Baltics, and the Balkans. Also Greek Byzantine sacred music, Syrian, Armenian, Georgian, and English Orthodox church music.

  Their catalog includes hundreds of choral editions (sacred, secular, and folk) with original text in phonetics and Cyrillic, as well as diction tapes, books and journals about Russian music, and other items of interest to choral, church, and other classical musicians.

Independent Distributors in North America

• Albany Music Distribution
  915 Broadway, Albany, NY 12207
  phone: 518 436 8814 / fax: 518 436 0643 and 800 752 1951

• Aldburn Electronics
  1455a Crown Street, North Vancouver, British Columbia
  phone: 604 986 5357

• Allegro Imports is a US distributor of small Classical labels. Their site lists new releases only.
  For a free subscription to their newsletter (US only), write to: Allegro Corporation, 14134 N.E. Airport Way, Portland, Oregon 97230-3443

• Bayside Entertainment Distribution
  885 Riverside Parkway, West Sacramento, California 95605
  phone: 916-371-1800, ext. 217, fax: 916-371-1995

• Empire Music Group
  170 West 74th Street, New York, NY 10023 USA,
  phone: 212 580 5959, fax: 212 874 8605, is the distributor for Claves in the US.

• Harmonia Mundi USA
  2037 Granville Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90025-6103
  phone: 310 478 1311

• In-Sync Laboratories
  Suite 10E, 2211 Broadway, New York, NY 10024
  phone: 212 873 6769

• Jem Music Corporation
  303 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016, is an independent distributor of Classical recordings, with a wide selection of historical releases.

• Koch International.
  2 Tri-Harbor Ct., Port Washington, NY 11050 USA

• Lake Shore Jazz
  P.O. Box 124, Villa Park., Illinois 60181
  phone: 708 782 2128

• Lyric Distribution
  18 Madison Avenue, Hicksville, NY 11801
  phone: 516 932 5503

• Qualiton Imports Ltd. is a distributor of Classical labels in North America. They have an extensive list of the recordings they handle, organized primarily by label.

• VAI (Video Artists International) is a label and distributor,
  109 Wheeler Ave. Pleasantville, NY 10570
  phone: 800 477 7146

Big Record Companies

Company	Labels
Bertelsmann Music Group	Arte Nova
	Catalyst
	Conifer
	deutsche harmonia mundi
	Eurodisc
	Melodiya
	RCA Red Seal
	RCA Victor (Warning! No Classical!)
EMI CLASSICS	Angel
	Classics for Pleasure
	Capitol
	EMI Classics
	EMI Eminence
	L'Esprit français
	fforte
	Phoenixa
	Références
	Reflexe
	Rouge et Noir
	Virgin Classics
PolyGram Universal Music Group	Archiv Produktion
	Argo - abandoned
	Belart
	Decca
	Deutsche Grammophon
	ECM New Series
	London Records - terminated
	L'Oiseau Lyre - R. I. P.
	Mercury - defunct
	Philips Classics
	Point Music
S O N Y C L A S S I C A L	CBS
	Essential Classics
	Masterworks
	Masterworks Portrait
	Odyssey
	Seon
	Sony Classical
	Vivarte
Warner-Elektra-Atlantic is owned by AOL / Time-Warner . . .	Elektra/Nonesuch
	Finlandia
	Erato
	Teldec