Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Commemorating 9/11 in Music

Fifteen years later, the anguish of 9/11 still resonates for Americans, including many composers.  There have been several pieces composed since that date that memorialize the people and events:

John Adams: On the Transmigration of Souls
Adams won a Pulitzer Prize for this haunting work that uses the names of some of the victims as the text.



Jake Heggie:  Pieces of 9/11
Heggie used interviews of Houston natives as the text for haunting pieces set for three singers and a small group of instrumentalists.


Steve Reich: WTC 9/11
Pre-recorded voices from NORAD, the Fire Department of New York and interviews of friends and neighbors combine with the Kronos Quartet.


Kevin Malone: The Music of 9/11, vol. 1
Requiem77 includes recordings of air traffic controllers attempting to reach American Airlines Flight 77.
Robert Moran:  Trinity Requiem
Trinity Church, located near the World Trade Center, commissioned this piece by Robert Moran and recorded it for its 10th anniversary commemoration.

Ingram Marshall:  September Canons

Lera Auerbach:  September 11: Op. 63 for violin & piano

Ned Rorem:  Aftermath, a song cycle

Harold Levin: Meditation on the Twin Towers

On Naxos Music Library only:
For more information, check out this book:
The Politics of Post-9/11 Music: Sound, Trauma, and the Music Industry in the Time of Terror, edited by Joseph P. Fisher




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