(Reuters) - The U.S. Library of Congress on Thursday added 25 recordings to its national registry, including dance-craze inspirations such as Chubby Checker's tune "The Twist" and the "Saturday Night Fever" movie soundtrack, and pianist Van Cliburn's landmark Cold War Tchaikovsky performance.
The recordings, ranging from 1918's "After You've Gone" by cabaret star Marion Harris to jazz legend Betty Carter's 1980 album "The Audience with Betty Carter," were selected for preservation by the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress because of their cultural, artistic and historic importance.
This year's inductees represent a wealth of musical styles, from Broadway show tunes (Rodgers and Hammerstein's "South Pacific") to iconic 1970s rock and punk ("The Dark Side of the Moon" by Pink Floyd and The Ramones' "Ramones").
The inclusion of Cliburn's 1958 recording of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 comes less than a month after the U.S. pianist died in February at age 78.
Cliburn was the surprise winner of the first International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958, and his triumph and subsequent Soviet concert tour helped spur a brief thaw in U.S.-Soviet relations.
Country music singer and two-term Louisiana Governor Jimmie Davis made the list with "You Are My Sunshine," as did avant-gardists Philip Glass and Robert Wilson for their five-hour opera, "Einstein on the Beach."
The National Recording Registry, created by Congress, began selecting and preserving recordings in 2002 to celebrate the richness and variety of the audio heritage of the United States.
Humorist, recording artist and stage star Will Rogers, blues great Janis Joplin and soprano Leontyne Price were included.
Rogers was cited for his Depression-era broadcast "Bacon, Beans and Limousines," Price was honored for "A Program of Song," while Joplin's "Cheap Thrills," her second release with Big Brother and the Holding Company, was lauded for its expression of both "desperation and endurance."
Spoken-word inductees included President Dwight Eisenhower's 1958 message to the nation via Atlas Satellite, and radio correspondent George Hicks' D-Day broadcasts from June 5-6, 1944.
Twenty-five recordings at least 10 years old are selected annually by an expert committee and suggestions from the public.
The 2012 National Recording Registry inductees: 1. "After You've Gone," Marion Harris (1918) 2. "Bacon, Beans and Limousines," Will Rogers (October 18, 1931) 3. "Begin the Beguine," Artie Shaw (1938) 4. "You Are My Sunshine," Jimmie Davis (1940) 5. D-Day Radio Broadcast, George Hicks (June 5-6, 1944) 6. "Just Because," Frank Yankovic & His Yanks (1947) 7. "South Pacific," Original Cast Album (1949) 8. "Descargas: Cuban Jam Session in Miniature," Cachao Y Su Ritmo Caliente (1957) 9. Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, Van Cliburn (April 11, 1958) 10. President's Message Relayed from Atlas Satellite, Dwight D. Eisenhower (December 19, 1958) 11. "A Program of Song," Leontyne Price (1959) 12. "The Shape of Jazz to Come," Ornette Coleman (1959) 13. "Crossing Chilly Jordan," The Blackwood Brothers (1960) 14. "The Twist," Chubby Checker (1960) 15. "Old Time Music at Clarence Ashley's," Clarence Ashley, Doc Watson, et al. (1960-1962) 16. "Hoodoo Man Blues," Junior Wells (1965) 17. "Sounds of Silence," Simon and Garfunkel (1966) 18. "Cheap Thrills," Big Brother and the Holding Company (1968) 19. "The Dark Side of the Moon," Pink Floyd (1973) 20. "Music Time in Africa," Leo Sarkisian, host (July 29, 1973) 21. "Wild Tchoupitoulas," The Wild Tchoupitoulas (1976) 22. "Ramones," The Ramones (1976) 23. "Saturday Night Fever," The Bee Gees, et al (1977) 24. "Einstein on the Beach," Philip Glass and Robert Wilson (1979) 25. "The Audience with Betty Carter," Betty Carter (1980)
(Reporting by Chris Michaud; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Stacey Joyce)