Walter Meyer wrote,

>Donald Satz wrote:
>
>>Too bad it isn't reliable.  Many folks get on Schwann's case because the
>>listings are not complete (not even close).  Schwann replies that it
lists
>>everything that comes in from the record companies - not their fault.
>
>My understanding is that Schwann, unlike Penguin or the other guides
>mentioned here, is a catalog and nothing more.  It lists recordings by
>title, composer, artist(s) and label.  There is no description of the
>work and no attempt at evaluating the performance.

That's exactly right. Schwann is in a difficult situation regarding
completeness, and has been for more than 40 years. On the one hand,
collectors want every conceivably available recording of everything listed,
but its mandate has always been limited to listing what is more or less
readily available in the United States. If they don't always get it right,
it's at least in part the fault of the record companies, who cannot be
relied upon to notify them that an item has been removed from their
catalogue or, more likely, has become unavailable even though it is still
listed.

By the way, I prefer the Schwann naming conventions for generic works to any
other I've seen.