Columbia Masterworks Records is a subsidiary of Columbia Records. It was started in 1927 as Masterworks Records, but renamed in 1948. It was intended for releases of classical music and artists, as opposed to popular music, which bore the regular Columbia logo. Under the leadership of its president Goddard Lieberson, a great many notable classical artists made contributions to the Columbia Masterworks library, such as the conductors Leonard Bernstein and George Szell, the pianists Vladimir Horowitz, Walter Gieseking and Oscar Levant and the organist Virgil Fox. The composers Aaron Copland and Igor Stravinsky also appeared conducting their own works. In 1968, the landmark electronic-music album "Switched-on Bach," containing transcriptions of a number of Bach's most famous compositions for the Moog modular synthesizer, was issued on Columbia Masterworks. Columbia Records is the oldest continually used brand name in recorded sound, dating back to 1888. ... Masterworks Records was started in 1927 as a subsidiary of Columbia Records. ...

In 1980, the label was renamed to CBS Masterworks Records. CBS Masterworks Records was a subsidiary of CBS Records. ...

See also

• List of record labels