Steve Reich Comments on the “WTC 9/11” Album Cover
Composer Steve Reich comments on his forthcoming Nonesuch Records release, featuring his piece WTC 9/11, performed by Kronos Quartet, and the album cover:
As a composer I want people to listen to my music without something distracting them. The present cover of WTC 9/11 will, for many, act as a distraction from listening and so, with the gracious agreement of Nonesuch, the cover is being changed.
When the cover was being designed, I believed, as did all the staff at Nonesuch and the art director, that a piece of music with documentary material from an event would best be matched with a documentary photograph of that event. I felt that the photo suggested by our art director was very powerful, and Nonesuch backed me up. All of us felt that anyone seeing the cover would feel the same way.
When the cover was released on the Nonesuch site and elsewhere, there was, instead, an outpouring of controversy mostly by people who had never heard the music.
When WTC 9/11 was performed by the Kronos Quartet, first in Durham, North Carolina, at Duke University and then shortly afterwards outside of Los Angeles and then at Carnegie Hall and again at the Barbican Centre in London, the reaction of the public and press was extremely thoughtful and moving. To have this reaction to the music usurped by the album cover seemed completely wrong. Accordingly, the cover is being changed.
I want to thank Nonesuch for backing up my original decision about the cover and for backing up my decision now to change it so we can put the focus back where it belongs, on the music.
—Steve Reich
[Editor's note, 8/12/11: Read Washington Post classical music critic Anne Midgette's thoughtful article on the matter at washingtonpost.com.]
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wow - of course the cover should be changed. so should the title. so should Reich's approach to what constitutes tasteful subject matter for a composition.
Reich did the right thing on both covers. He picked a iconic image that captured the emotion of 9/11 and also realized his work my be compromised with such a powerful picture. He still has my respect as an artist and humanitarian. Perhaps a non direct title like "Different Trains" was for concentration camps during WWII. It takes character to say you were wrong. let's not over see the humility in this decision.
It's ridiculous to think that a mere picture of something would harm Reich's music. Such a photo as the "controversial" one should be as graphic as desired, such as the Hindenburg exploding... which is what photos of the events of 9/11 will eventually join the ranks of in terms of significance. That is, to say, that the music in the product itself will have a such lasting impact. People should stop being so falsely sensitive.
Steve Reich--one of America's greatest composers--chose an image that he felt best represented his music and, when people reacted negatively to it, changed the image.
Mr Panzer; please tell what he should be apologizing for?
Nonesuch should consider offering for sale the already-printed, first run copies of WTC 9/11 to those who would otherwise choose to purchase it. That would restore some balance, some harmony to this matter, and provide a measure of respect to those involved with the creation of that first cover.
I was nearly killed in that. I left the towers less than 10 minutes before the planes hit. Very few "memorials" to it were things that I thought were called for. The piece is one of them. The cover isn't..
I got very lucky in more ways than one -- not only was I spared but everyone I knew who worked there was also spared for one reason or another, so I can't comment on it from the point of loss, only the very near miss. I was in Sam Goody's for a CD wallet around 9:00. If I'd paused to shop for music I would have been in it. The only thing that really saved me was my feeling that a cup of coffee in the towers was too expensive and I could get one much cheaper during my walk over the bridge to Brooklyn.
what a pity - I pre-ordered a signed copy of this album back in July, and now this. Just like it's possible to enjoy a wonderful recording with a traditionally generic classical CD cover, so it is possible to enjoy a wonderful recording with a thoughtful, personal cover. Why the classical blogosphere has chosen to get so involved with a CD cover is really overwhelming. Let the artist be! hate the cover? buy the mp3s.
I find the original cover design powerful and valid, and I will replace the new design with it on my own copy.
This is very sad. The work, which I haven't heard yet - but which I ordered a signed copy of - is a memorial work about a terrible tragedy. Should we hide that tragedy now, 10 years later, after more Americans have died as a result of the war that followed? The chosen picture is indeed emblematic, and has been widely seen. It underscores the horror of that day, which should not be forgotten, nor sugar-coated.
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