Can anyone recommend a good hurdy-gurdy recording?
Dale
Donovan, of course.
Just kidding. . .
If you’re looking for it in Irish music (I suspect you aren’t, but what the hey), Andy Irvine plays it. He plays on Planxty Irwin on the black Planxty album.
Commercial recordings of sound samples?
Yes, and can anyone recommend me a square circle?
Anything by Nigel Eaton should be good:
http://music.onino.co.uk/music/music_of_the_hurdy_gurdy_the.html
Also, there are tons of french records with the hurdy-gurdy:
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/xaime/vielle/vieldisco.html
Here’s some good stuff.
http://home.swipnet.se/kometen2/faust/index_eng.htm
Vielleux du Bourbonnais “Vielles et Cornemuses”
Ad Vielle Que Pourra “New French Folk Music”
These are group recordings with other instruments (French bagpipes, accordions, and fiddle mostly).
Fy Björn, gå och ställ dig i hörnet!
Länka till utrikiska band när det finns så många bra nordiska lira spelare … 
BTW, Welcome to C&F if nobody said it before.
Harald Petterson is an exceptional person and a great multi-instrumentalist. He plays in numerous constellations check out “Lure” (use to be called “Valramn”) and “Raun” if you want to hear him on hurdy-gurdy. Two of the other memers of Lure Esbjörn Hazelius (mandola, fiddle, pipes) and Fredrik Bengtsson (Bass) also play ITM together Marco Pollier and Kevin Ryan in the band “anEitre”. For some more contemporary Swedish hurdy-gurdy playing “Garmarna” is well worth a listening. If you want a complete listing Dale, go to the Hurdy-gurdy Discography web site
Lure/Valramn
http://www.lure.se/jonslure.mp3
http://www.lure.se/vagen_hem.mp3
http://www.lure.se/blaretudan.mp3
http://www.drone.se/english/DROCD033.html
RAUN
http://hem.passagen.se/raun99/lyssna.html
Garmarna
Faust is a great band and Alban is also a good pipemaker. If you check out his website you’ll see some new pics of his wooden whistles.
All the best,
/MarcusR
Recordings by the Hungarian tanchez and folk band Musikas feature hurdy gurdy very effectively. I’d recommend Marta Sebasteyen’s self titled album with the band. (She sings with them as well as maintaining a solo career.) Hurdy gurdy in no way dominates the instrumental backing but that is probably a good thing. Since the other aspects of this album are so wonderful, it’s a painless introduction to the instrument.
Actually, I’m pretty sure that’s a harmonium you’re hearing. It does have a similar timbre to the hurdy gurdy.
A note of caution:
Hurdy gurdies or Vielles a Rue are high-maintenance instruments- sneeze on them and something breaks or goes out of tune. They are also tricky to play.
Nicolas Boulerice is a good player who performs with Le Vent du Nord from Quebec. Neat thing is that he picked up the instrument just six or seven years ago as a result of what their website calls his “fascination with the curious” (sound familiar?). 
The fellows are charming and they clearly convey their lust for life and music through their music. Their band blows, as all French speakers will recognize. 
Their site…http://www.leventdunord.com/
Jef
There was a time when I was tossing up between hurdy gurdy and uilleann pipes. I ended up settling on concertina but a lot of issues of luck rather than choice finally went into that decision. (If you play a lot of other instruments, concertina still seems to me like the wisest choice.)
A friend of mine got one a few years ago and it only took him a few days to get one or two tunes down, solo that was. I still haven’t heard him play it together with others. His summary of the Hurdy-gurdy was:
A minute to play - A lifetime to tune
Great sounding instrument though.
Cheers!
I’ve been keeping an eye on them on ebay for a couple years.
Right now there’s about 32 items, mostly recordings, but some instruments.