In every medium, collecting emphasis falls on recordings of Weill’s music in the form of complete works; nearly every such commercial recording is available. The LP and CD collection also comprise cast recordings, historical recordings, soundtracks, and many jazz and popular recordings that may include only a single Weill song. Because a vast number of popular artists have included Weill on at least one album, our collection of this sort of recording makes no pretense to completeness. Such releases are chosen based on a number of factors, including prominence of the artist and repertory. Commercial recordings outnumber non-commercial, but the collection includes a number of archival recordings, primarily of performances. In recent years, more and more archival recordings have arrived in the form of audio files, which may be made available to researchers in some cases. Recordings of live performances, broadcasts, and symposia also appear in this group, mostly on cassette.

Among the LP’s, two collections are especially noteworthy, those of Lotte Lenya herself and of Henry Berman. Lenya’s collections of 45 and 78 rpm discs, commercial and non-commercial, are stored at Yale. As of June 2021, the Research Center has amassed over 1,500 commercial CD’s and about 500 non-commercial.