Composer Steve Reich talks to Michael Berkeley and Gavin Bryars about his life, work and musical influences - among them Bach, Stravinsky, Charlie Parker and - for his exceptional sense of time - jazz drummer Kenny Clarke.

http://sounds.bl.uk/View.aspx?item=024M-C0095X0205XX-0100V0.xml

'Recording of the Week' highlights gems from the Archival Sound Recordings website, chosen by British Library experts or recommended by listeners. This week's item was selected from the Institute of Contemporary Arts talks collection by Stephen Cleary, Curator of Drama & Literature recordings at the British Library Sound Archive. The recording was made in January 1986 by the British Library Sound Archive.  The ICA talks collection has 1,000 hours of recordings of events held at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, in the Mall, London, recorded in the period 1981-1994.

Can't tell a Blackbird from a Song Thrush? Well, here's a top tip to help you distinguish between the two songbirds. The Song Thrush loves repetition and will repeat each song phrase two or three times. Listen to the repetition in the song of this individual recorded in Derbyshire:

http://sounds.bl.uk/View.aspx?item=022M-W1CDR0001531-1900V0.xml

'Recording of the Week' highlights gems from the Archival Sound Recordings website, chosen by British Library experts or recommended by listeners. This week's item was selected from the British Wildlife Recordings collection by Cheryl Tipp, curator of wildlife sounds at the British Library Sound Archive. The recording was made in April 1975 in swanick, Derbyshire by A. J. Williams.

Great harmonies from the lead singer and several male backing singers accompanied on one guitar and one banjo:

http://sounds.bl.uk/View.aspx?item=025M-C0205X0001XX-0100V0.xml#

'Recording of the Week' highlights gems from the Archival Sound Recordings website, chosen by British Library experts or recommended by listeners. This week's item was selected from the Simon Seligmann Kiribati Recordings collection by Dr Janet Topp Fargion, curator of World & Traditional Music at the British Library Sound Archive. The recording was made in South Tarawa, the capital of the Pacific island republic of Kiribati in August 1985 by Daisy Maerere and Simon Seligmann.

Recounting his childhood experiences of the second world war in Norwich, Brian Staff describes one of the early bombing raids on Norwich, potato rations, and the nearby American aerodrome at Rackheath, a village just to the northeast of Norwich.

http://sounds.bl.uk/View.aspx?item=021M-C0900X11636X-0100V0.xml#

'Recording of the Week' highlights gems from the Archival Sound Recordings website, chosen by British Library experts or recommended by listeners. This week's item was selected by Elspeth Millar, National Life Stories Administrator at the British Library Sound Archive. The recording was made in Norwich in 1999 for the BBC by Wendy Witham for the Millennium Memory Bank, one of the largest single oral history collections in Europe.

Traditional Music in England
Explore an additional 13,000 recordings of Traditional Music in England, including pub jams, music hall, soldiers songs and interviews with folk musicians.

 Simon Seligmann Kiribati Collection
Discover the music of the Pacific island of Kiribati with traditional songs and modern folk music.

 Chopin piano works Hear 1,500 interpretations by some of the greatest pianists of the early 20th century.

 Early Spoken Word Recordings Collection  Listen to many additional recordings including royal recordings and others drawn from the worlds of literature and the theatre.

 Playback and recording equipment View 400 images of 90 different types of playback machine, from the 1893 Edison wax cylinder phonograph to the modern Sony CD player.

Media coverage includes:

• Official press release
• Guardian newspaper article
• BBC Radio 4, Six o’clock news (2 minutes, from 27:50)
• BBC Radio 3 In Tune (start at 1:09.30)
• BBC World Service Europe Today (start at 43.20)