(I expect that something like this has already been considered; didn't see anything about this on the issue tracker, though.)

Pagination is mostly a safety thing in that it saves both the server and the end-user from handling too large data sets. However, ironically, the usability of pagination gets worse and worse with the number of pages it needs to handle.

This is less of a problem for Pop/Rock artists since there are not too many pages anyway and for the majority of cases a practical sorting order can be found. That is, putting the regular albums on top and compilations to the bottom. That is how I think it should be done, even though already for these artists, a 'show all releases on one page' is really needed.

But now have a look at http://test.musicbrainz.org/artist/24f1766e-9635-4d58-a4d4-9413f9f98a4c . It's 32 pages! And even worse: when searching a classical release you'd actually need to look into the compilations section in many cases. (Either because it actually is a compilation or because it has just been put there by a user as stopgap.) So basically, when people search a classical release, they do not have the slightest idea on which page where they should start. (On the old site, I'd usually do a page search and hope that the contributor of the release handled the TitleStyle well, so that I'd have a chance of getting the release.)

My suggestion (apart from the 'show all' or 'show next 1000' button) would be a live search/filter which could be used for thinning out the releases. And of course it should take care of more release attributes than just the title.