Michael Herman’s National Discographies

Prepared by Michael Herman
Maintained by Stephen Ellis

The series of discographies that I have compiled has been meant to partially fill a gap in the documentation of recorded music. As a collector of LPs and CDs for over 45 years with a specialty in orchestral music, it was apparent that it was nearly impossible to easily track down information about classical recordings unless they were currently available. This is not a new development, as the same problem existed in the days of LPs even though record catalogues were issued on a monthly or quarterly basis.

In the 1950’s, a comprehensive 3 volume guide to recordings was published that attempted to cover all recordings issued up to that very time. This was The World’s Encyclopedia of Recorded Music by Francis F. Clough, and C.J. Cuming. However, a work of this type would be an impossibility today as too many recordings have been and are still being issued so something comparable would require a multi-volume set that would dwarf both the O.E.D. and New Grove many times over. So now it is up to the specialist to stake out a particular area and attempt to present reference works that will help enlighten that musical area for those that seek specific information about it.

The data contained in these discographies comes from a wide variety of sources. The majority of these sources are sites found on the Internet and they basically consist of library databases, national music information centers, recording companies and retailers, music publishers and dedicated sites of composers, conductors and orchestras. I have been also able to utilize a personal library of musical reference books and record catalogues that I have gathered over the years. Finally, I have been able to call upon a network of international music friends from the various countries that my Discographies cover as well as direct questions to composers, conductors and officers of musical societies who are extremely forthcoming with needed information.

The greatest advantage of online publishing is the ability to constantly revise what has already been written. In an area such as recordings, this ability is absolutely essential. With my eyes continually on the sites mentioned above, I endeavor to keep these discographies useful by making them as up to date as possible. I am very grateful to readers of these works who have pointed out both omissions and errors and have greatly aided me in this enterprise.

Michael Herman
Michael Herman passed away, from COVID, in December 2020.

With the passing of his friend Michael Herman, Stephen Ellis, of Glenview, Illinois, has agreed to continue Michael’s sui generis discography pages. Ellis has been a collector of recordings of contemporary music since 1961, was a confederate of musicologist Nicolas Slonimsky for the last twenty years of his life, and published nearly 1,000 reviews of, and articles on, contemporary music over a span of 25 years as a writer/critic for Fanfare Magazine (1979–2004).

The Discographies
All cover releases on both LP and CD.

They include works written after 1800, with the exception of British Orchestral Music, which is for composers born between 1800 and 1910.

The discographies continue to be updated, but rather than in huge lots as before, they will be updated continually. The date in brackets after a particular discography link (below) shows when it was most recently updated. Any without a date remain at the August 2020 point for the moment. Please note that the discographies of the major composers, particularly those with individual files, will no longer continue to be updated, and all future updates to the discographies will present only 20^th and 21^st century symphonies and concerti. The British Orchestral discography will likewise not be further updated.

Sources of Information

American Symphonies (Updated 4/24)

Introduction	Composers A-F
Composers G-O	Composers P-Z

Asian Symphonies (5/24)

Introduction

Discography

Benelux and Swiss Symphonies (5/24)

Introduction	Composers A-K
Composers L-Z	César Franck

British and Commonwealth Concertos (6/24)

Introduction	Composers A-C
Composers D-H	Composers I-P
Composers Q-Z	Sir Edward Elgar
Ralph Vaughan Williams

British and Commonwealth Symphonies (7/24)

Introduction	Composers A-G
Composers H-Z	Sir Edward Elgar
Ralph Vaughan Williams

British Orchestral Music

Introduction	Frederick Delius
Sir Edward Elgar	Gustav Holst
Ralph Vaughan Williams	Composers A-B
Composers C-G	Composers H-R
Composers S-Z

East-Central European & Balkan Concertos (10/24)

Introduction	Composers A-F
Composers G-K	Composers L-O
Composers P-S	Composers T-Z
Béla Bartók	Frédéric Chopin
Antonín Dvořák	Franz Liszt
Bohuslav Martinů

East-Central European & Balkan Symphonies (10/24)

Introduction	Composers A-J
Composers K-P	Composers R-Z
Antonín Dvořák	Bohuslav Martinů

Finnish and Baltic Symphonies (10/24)

Introduction	Jean Sibelius
Other Composers

French Concertos (10/24)

Introduction	Composers A-E
Composers F-L	Composers M-Z
Édouard Lalo	Maurice Ravel
Camille Saint-Saëns

French Symphonies (10/24)

Introduction	Composers A-H
Composers I-Z	Hector Berlioz
Camille Saint-Saëns

German and Austrian Symphonies (10/24)

Introduction	Composers A-L
Composers M-Z	Richard Strauss

Italian, Portuguese, Spanish & Latin American Symphonies (10/24)

Introduction

Discography

Russian, Soviet & Post-Soviet Concertos (11/24)

Introduction	Composers A-G
Composers H-P	Composers R-Z
Sergei Prokofiev	Sergei Rachmaninov
Dmitri Shostakovich	Igor Stravinsky
Pyotr Tchaikovsky

Russian, Soviet & Post-Soviet Symphonies (11/24)

Introduction	Composers A-G
Composers H-R	Composers S-Z
Sergei Prokofiev	Sergei Rachmaninov
Dmitri Shostakovich	Pyotr Tchaikovsky

Scandinavian Symphonies (5/23)

Introduction	Carl Nielsen
Composers A-K	Composers L-Z

Scandinavian, Finnish & Baltic Concertos (6/23)

Introduction	Edvard Grieg
Jean Sibelius	Composers A-G
Composers H-L	Composers M-R
Composers S-Z