Library of Congress Makes Room for Simon & Garfunkel, Van Cliburn and the Ramones

Whatever Simon & Garfunkel meant by “Sounds of Silence,” those sounds will now reverberate in perpetuity — whether silently or otherwise — along with works by Van Cliburn, Pink Floyd, the Ramones and many other artists whose musical creations will be added to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.

The library is to announce on Thursday that it has added to its audio registry 25 new recordings, which were selected for preservation because of “their cultural, artistic and historic importance to the nation’s aural legacy,” according to a news release.

Among the recordings that have been placed in the registry this year are “Sounds of Silence,” the 1966 Simon & Garfunkel album that yielded music for Dustin Hoffman to brood to in “The Graduate.” The registry will also add a recording from April 1958 of Van Cliburn, then 23 years old, performing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 for the finals of the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow, as he went on to win the contest and the hearts of listeners worldwide.

Other recordings selected for preservation include the self-titled debut album by the pioneering New York punk rockers the Ramones; the original Broadway cast recording of “South Pacific”; Ornette Coleman’s album “The Shape of Jazz to Come”; Chubby Checker’s pop hit “The Twist”; Philip Glass and Robert Wilson’s opera “Einstein on the Beach”; and “The Dark Side of the Moon,” the best-selling Pink Floyd album (and unofficial accompaniment to “The Wizard of Oz”).

Source: New York Times