Sound and Music

Sound and Music has a unique collection of scores, recordings and background material from the UK.

Most of the Collection (formerly the BMIC Collection) is of post-1960 and contemporary material, but it also encompasses music and sound from the earlier 20th century, stretching back to 1900. The Collection contains both published and unpublished works, including many pieces that are out of print or hard to obtain.

Internationally recognised composers and artists (such as Britten, Tippett, Birtwistle, Maxwell Davies, Cardew, Harvey, Weir, MacMillan, Turnage and Adès) are featured alongside emerging composers and many little known or unjustly neglected creators whose work merits rediscovery and performance.    

The Collection can be explored online through our comprehensive searchable catalogue. More than 2500 full scores and score extracts are available to view, alongside 1000 audio samples. Many of the online scores can be downloaded. New scores and recordings are regularly added to the collection, as is background information on composers.

You can use our catalogue to guide you in obtaining hard-copy score materials. Where a score is published, available directly from the composer or available for reproduction through Sound and Music, this will be indicated in the catalogue entry. If in doubt, contact Sound and Music for more information.

Please note that Sound and Music cannot supply copies of recordings from the collection, for reasons of copyright.

The Collection is currently stored off-site, so users wishing to use the Collection in person should contact Sound and Music to make an appointment.