British Library puts 1,000 classical music recordings online

An archive of 1,000 classical music recordings has been put online.

The British Library Archival Sound Recordings project includes previously unheard concertos and sinfoniettas from composers such as Bach.

There are also orchestral suites and concerti by Haydn, Beethoven, Mozart and Brahms.

The recordings are available to visitors to the British Library reading rooms and can also be accessed by the public at home. However music can only be streamed rather than downloaded.

Celia Duffy, head of research at the National Centre for Research in the Performing Arts, Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama said: "Digital collections, such as Archival Sound Recordings, have enormous potential for researchers and students.

“By placing previously inaccessible archives online, they create the potential for new fields of cross-disciplinary research, reflecting the social, cultural, technological and political changes that have shaped contemporary society.”

The two-year project has been funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee, an offshoot of the education funding councils.