CBS Masterworks Records was a subsidiary of CBS Records, producing classical and spoken-word releases as well as Broadway albums.

It was started in 1927 as Columbia Masterworks Records

Columbia Masterworks Records

Columbia Masterworks Records was a record label started in 1927 by Columbia Records.It was intended for releases of classical music and artists, as opposed to popular music, which bore the regular Columbia logo. Masterworks Records' first release, in 1927, was a complete performance of the...

, a subsidiary of the Columbia Records

Columbia Records

Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

 label.http://www.discogs.com/label/CBS+Masterworks It remained in the Columbia family until 1980, when it was renamed CBS Masterworks.

When CBS was acquired by Sony

Sony

, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....

 in 1990, the label was renamed Sony Classical Records

Sony Classical Records

Sony Classical Records was started in 1927 as Columbia Masterworks Records, a subsidiary of the American Columbia Records. In 1948, it issued the first commercially successful long-playing 12" record...

.

The Masterworks name is now used by Masterworks Broadway Records and is also the name of Sony Music's classical music unit, Sony Masterworks.