Classical Music Library

classical music library

“A breakthrough resource” - Best Reference Database of 2004, Library Journal 

"Highly recommended" - CHOICE

"Academic libraries that support even small music programs should strongly consider subscribing" - Reference Reviews

“Familiar and exotic labels blend in an impressive and remarkable list. . . . Eminently searchable and browseable—this is the key to a good music service” - Reader’s Choice Award, Charleston Advisor

Classical Music Library is an award-winning, comprehensive streaming audio collection of classical music.  It currently provides streaming access to over 130,000 tracks, including almost 50,000 recordings from EMI, and is growing monthly as new recordings are added. 

The most comprehensive audio collection available

Classical Music Library provides coverage in breadth and depth for classical music, and is relevant to a broad range of studies, including music history, music appreciation, music performance, analysis and theory:

  • All major genres and time periods from medieval to contemporary, from choral works to symphonies, operas and the avant-garde.
  • Over 25,000 unique classical works that can be browsed by composer and the results sorted by title, date of composition and genre.  Unique access points to drive discovery for users.
  • Over 400 distinct instrument categories
  • Over 150 distinct classical genres and sub-genres
  • Data on over 10,000 individual composers and 100,000s of artists and ensembles

The highest quality publishing partners

We work with a wide variety of organizations to ensure our collection incorporates the best recordings.

View a list of publishing parnters

The greatest artists

Here is a sample of the acclaimed performers that feature in our recordings:

  • Artists: Glenn Gould, Placido Domingo, Maria Callas, Itzhak Perlman Thomas Hampson, Natalie Dessay, Sarah Chang, Maria Callas, Julian Bream, Dinu Lipatti, Christa Ludwig, Sviatoslav Richter, Kiri Te Kanawa, Maxim Vengerov, Claudio Abbado, Olga Borodina, Ileana Cotrubas, Hilary Hahn, Thomas Hampson, Radu Lupu, Karita Mattila, Margaret Leng Tan, Mitsuko Uchida, Pinchas Zuckerman, and many more
  • Ensembles: the Eroica Trio, Les Arts Florissants, English Consort, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Taverner Choir, Vienna Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, The Tallis Scholars, King’s Consort, and many more

Powerful teaching resources

Our collections include a playlist functionality to enable educators to create, annotate and share thematic playlists of recordings to support their teaching needs.

100s of playlists based around key musical concepts e.g

  • Instruments e.g. ‘20th Century Piano Classics’
  • Genres e.g. ‘Concert Overture’
  • Artistic Movements e.g. ‘The Spanish Renaissance’
  • Composers e.g. ‘Bach Flute Sonatas’
  • Artists e.g. ‘Anne Murray’
  • Related themes e.g. ‘Borrowed Music: The Art of Emulation!’, ‘Faust and the Diabolical’

Playlists of music referenced in popular music textbooks e.g.

  • Kamien: Music: An Appreciation
  • Wright: Anthology for Music in Western Civilization
  • Stolba: Development of Western Music
  • Schulenberg: Music of the Baroque
  • Kerman: 'Listen‘
  • Hoffer: 'Music Listening Today‘
  • Burkhart: Medieval and Renaissance Composition
  • Bonds: 'History of Music in Western Culture‘
  • Yudkin: 'Understanding Music'.

Key Features of Classical Music Library

  • Advanced Search: additional options include work/opus #, genre, instrument, time period, artist/ensemble, date of recording, label and catalog number
  • CD Quality: audio streaming up to CD quality (320kbps) at no extra cost
  • Mobile Access: stream to your mobile device / smartphone
  • Liner Notes: available where possible
  • Custom Audio Clips: New feature from Summer 2012!   Users can create, and share clips from all audio tracks.
  • Embeddable Audio: New feature from Summer 2012!  All audio can be embedded into 3rd party websites.
  • Related Reference: includes composer biographies and links to related information in Grove and Wilson (subscribers only)
  • Custom Playlists: create, annotate and share playlists. Access a library of over 200,000 playlists including 100s of pre-built playlists to support class tuition, as well as playlists themed around the recordings used in the most popular music textbooks.
  • Permanent URLs: all albums, tracks, clips and playlists can be cited on permanent URLs.
  • Cross-search: audio can be cross-searched alongside our related video, scores and reference material to provide a powerful tool for music research.