| Sony Masterworks | |
|---|---|
| Parent company | Sony Music Entertainment |
| Founded | 2006 |
| Genre | Classical, jazz, show tunes |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Official Website | http://www.sonymasterworks.com |
Sony Masterworks is a record label. It is the result of a restructuring of Sony Music Entertainment's classical music division. Before the acquisition of Bertelsmann's shares in the former Sony BMG, the label was known as Sony BMG Masterworks.
Its formation marked the merger of the Sony Classical and BMG Classics (including RCA Red Seal) product lines. Gilbert Hetherwick was the president of the label from January 2005 through November 2006, displacing Peter Gelb who was the head of Sony Classical before the merger. Hetherwick claimed (as of 2005) the label may reissue between one hundred and two hundred historical recordings per year. Hetherwick left in November 2006, to be replaced by Alex Miller, a former BMG Employee.
The label owns rights to recordings dating from the 20th century and late 19th century, including ones featuring Enrico Caruso, Mario Lanza, Fritz Reiner, Arturo Toscanini, Artur Rubinstein, Jascha Heifetz, E. Power Biggs, and Plácido Domingo, as well as from more recent performers such as Yo-Yo Ma, and Joshua Bell. It is also responsible for Sony BMG's immense archives of film scores (including scores for such films as Star Wars, The Phantom of the Opera, Memoirs of a Geisha and many others). It also maintains the archive of theater soundtracks, via its Masterworks Broadway imprint.
The merged label's name echoes the moniker used by Sony Classical's predecessor, Columbia Masterworks (later CBS Masterworks). The label's name was changed after CBS sold its records division to Sony in the late 1980s. Sony Masterworks has several imprints, used primarily for its reissues of Broadway cast recordings (Masterworks Broadway Records) and select jazz titles (Masterworks Jazz).