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Updated Version of Show Music on Record Web Site is Launched
The Library of Congress is pleased to announce the new edition of the Show Music on Record web site, available at http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/showmusic/showmusic-home.html on the Library's Performing Arts Encyclopedia (www.loc.gov/performingarts). The web site provides a searchable database of original cast and studio cast performances issued on commercial phonograph records (in all formats) from 1890 to the present, covering music of the American stage, screen, and television, with composer performances and some collateral recordings. English and other foreign shows are included if they had American productions. Film musicals from England, France, and Germany are included since many of them were shown in the U.S. The database provides the original issue of each recording, as well as details of each composer, orchestrator, conductor, and singer. Also included are opening dates for stage shows, release dates for films, and broadcast dates for radio and television programs.
The Show Music on Record database is based on the standard reference book by Jack Raymond previously published in three print editions beginning in 1982. The new web-based edition has been considerably expanded and updated to January 2011. It now lists 5,172 shows (stage, film and television), which is 690 more than were listed in the last print edition. Furthermore, many additions and corrections have been made to the previous show listings.
Show Music on Record has been highly praised in reviews:
"By far the most comprehensive discography of American productions to date... A truly remarkable achievement." -- Institute for Studies in American Music Newsletter
"This exceptional discographic compilation is the essential reference guide to American musicals...clearly designed for research use by both scholars and private collectors... No music library or sound recording archive can afford to be without this detailed, reasonably-priced, thoroughly documented resource volume." -- Popular Music and Society
"A good choice for libraries serving record collectors and others interested in show music." -- American Library Association Booklist
Jack Raymond is a record collector and researcher residing in Falls Church, VA. His personal collection of phonograph records has been used for reissue projects by the Smithsonian Institution, the Metropolitan Opera Guild, MCA, and Time-Life Records. He is also producer of the 12 CD set Music from the New York Stage, 1890-1920, issued in London on the Pearl label, and many other reissues of historical recordings.
Karen C. Lund
Digital Project Coordinator
Library of Congress
202-707-0156
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