Historical recordings

Discographies

Beethoven on records / George Marek ; with foreword by Bruno Walter.
New York : Four Corners, c1942.
ARS » Reference (Non-circulating) » ML156.5 .B4 M3 1942
The Recordings of Beethoven as viewed by the critics from High Fidelity.
Great Barrington, Mass. [1971]
ARS » Reference (Non-circulating) » ML156.5.B41 R31

Paul Henry Lang reviews the symphonies; Harris Goldsmith reviews the concertos.

Early recordings in the Archive of Recorded Sound

The Archive holds numerous early disc recordings of Beethoven's works; see this page for a list of titles.

The cylinder collection contains one Beethoven recording, of the "Menuett", performed by Kathleen Parlow, violin. Edison Blue Amberol, issue no. 28192 (original issue no. 4M-28026), October 1917. ARS accession no. 1460.

Early recordings online

Beethoven on Edison cylinders (1909-1914)
Six recordings, digitized for streaming, from the UC Santa Barbara Cylinder Digitization Project.
Beethoven on early Victor recordings
Results from the Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings Project. Some entries include streaming audio files.
National Jukebox (Library of Congress)
27 Beethoven recordings, ca. 1910-1923.
The Virtual Gramophone (National Library of Canada)
63 recordings; most provide streaming audio files and label images. Search "Beethoven" under name field.