original cast recording for
Caesar (Columbia Masterworks M-325, 1939) In addition to classical music, Columbia also issued
cast recordings,
soundtrack albums, and
spoken-word recordings under the Masterworks name. One of the first
spoken word albums of historical significance was the Masterworks release of ten scenes from the
Mercury Theatre's Broadway production of
Caesar (Columbia Masterworks Set No. 325), recorded in March 1938 and released in 1939. Sales were such that Columbia engaged Welles and the Mercury Theatre to produce four Shakespeare plays (
Twelfth Night,
The Merchant of Venice,
Julius Caesar and
Macbeth) for the phonograph in 1939 and 1940. The sets were opulently bound and included a hardcover book. Next on the list is
The Graduate, released in 1968 as OS-3180, featuring the music of
Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, then the best-selling pop music act on the roster of the parent Columbia label. Partly as a result of the immense popularity of this release, Columbia Masterworks also released a spoken-word recording of excerpts from the soundtrack of the Dustin Hoffman film
Little Big Man. Columbia Masterworks was also responsible for the original cast albums of
Kiss Me, Kate (1948) and
South Pacific (1949), as well as for the original
stage album of
West Side Story (1957), and the original cast recordings of
Gypsy (1959),
The Sound of Music (again 1959),
Flower Drum Song (1958), and
Camelot (1960). In 1946, Columbia Masterworks released the first album of
Show Boat featuring the cast of an actual production of the show, not just one or two singers from it as had been done before. This 1946 revival of
Show Boat, which starred
Jan Clayton,
Charles Fredericks,
Carol Bruce,
Ralph Dumke, and
Kenneth Spencer, was the longest-running revival of a show up to that time. They also released a long series of
studio cast albums of Broadway shows, such as
The Student Prince,
The Desert Song,
Girl Crazy,
Oh, Kay!, and again,
Show Boat. ==Electronic music==