Instructions for Searching Henry's Record Collection.

Searching the database should be mostly self-explanatory: just enter the search criteria, and select which categories of the database to search in. The available categories are:

You may select as many categories as you want, but you must select at least one, otherwise your search will retrieve nothing.

When entering timings, the seconds portion, ":ss", is optional. For example, "7 - 8:30" would limit the results to pieces between 7 minutes and 8 minutes, 30 seconds long.

If your search fails to turn up the results you expect, you may be able to find an explanation among the quirks enumerated below. (And if you discover other quirks, please email us at henrysrecords@red-bean.com.)

  1. The search algorithm tries to find an unbroken match for your criteria anywhere in the relevant field. For example, if you put "beethoven" in the Composer field and "certo" in the Title field, you will retrieve all concertos by Beethoven, for whatever instruments. Note that searches are case-insensitive, so you needn't worry about capitalization.

  2. Titling is a little inconsistent. If a piece is well-known (for example, one of the Brandenburg Concertos by Bach), you can count on the well-known portion of its name being included in the entry, but nothing else. So a search with "Bach" and "Brandenburg" would get you the one you're looking for (among others), but don't try looking it up by BWV number because that may not be included in the entry.

  3. Speaking of which, opus numbers are sometimes given, sometimes not. In the works of Bach, Mozart and Schubert, the BWV/K/D numbers (respectively) are usually present when the work is not well-known, but should not be relied on too heavily.

  4. Pieces with special titles usually include the title in parentheses and single-quotes after the standard name. For example: "Sonata for Piano No. 14 ('Moonlight')".

  5. Key signatures are included only inconsistently. Sorry.

  6. Concertos are listed like this: "Concerto for Piano No. 1", or sometimes "Concerto for Violin and Orchestra". Occasionally there will be a title as complete as this one for Stenhammar's second concerto: "Concerto for Piano No. 2 in d, op. 23". But in general, don't include the key or the opus number in a search, because they probably aren't in the database and therefore your search would fail.

  7. In the search results, the "Composer Involved" field means that the work's composer was somehow involved in the recording, often as a performer (but not always).

  8. Popular rumor notwithstanding, Henry doesn't have every recording ever made :-). Sometimes a search fails because the item simply is not in his collection. Someday, in the misty future, we may add a feature that allows other people to enter recordings into the database, but for now it's limited to Henry's collection.

(Back to the database search page)