Worst looking CD/LP artwork

[Pohjolas Daughter]

https://www.impulstanz.com/en/performances/id2543/

Very few artists investigate the relationship between dance and music, sound, space and movement structures so thoroughly and with such outstanding success as Belgian superstar Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. Her choreographic examination of Johann Sebastian Bach is legendary: for example at Burgtheater Wien with Partita 2 (Sei solo) in 2013 or even back in 1994 with Toccata at Volkstheater Wien, her first of a total of 21 productions shown at ImPulsTanz, and most recently in The Goldberg Variations and The Six Brandenburg Concertos at the Wiener Festwochen – but she has also explored the work of Béla Bartók, Ludwig van Beethoven and Arnold Schönberg. The present piece revolves around the Bohemian baroque composer and violinist Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, or, more precisely, his Mysteriensonaten (Mystery Sonatas) or Rosenkranzsonaten (Rosary Sonatas). "There are works that push the boundaries of what can be done on an instrument: such as Bach's Partitas, Liszt's Études d'Execution Transcendante and Biber's Mystery Sonatas", De Keersmaeker says of this work. Six fantastic performers of her company Rosas dance to Biber's exquisite sounds, played on a specially tuned violin (scordatura) by renowned violinist Amandine Beyer and her ensemble Gli Incogniti.



Rosas

"In this choreography, roses not only stand for beauty, but also for resistance: no roses without thorns. The dancing body, alone or in group, becomes an act of defiance made possible by Biber's virtuoso, strongly narrative music.

The sonatas use the intriguing scordatura technique, in which the violin is tuned differently and the notes on the score therefore sound different. This extremely virtuoso technique is performed live by violinist Amandine Beyer and her ensemble Gli Incogniti. They are on stage with six dancers moving through the sonatas.

This performance is dedicated to women who resist: Rosa Bonheur, Rosa Luxemburg, Rosa Parks, Rosa Vergaelen and Rosa, the 15-year-old climate activist who died during the Belgian floods in 2021."

Thank you so much for this info!  I also enjoyed the [short] video of the dancer. 

PD

[pjme]

You're welcome.

I'm -personally- not a big fan of De Keersmaker. Often long performances that have moments of great beauty, but equally are tiring and quite stressful....

Peter

[Spotted Horses]

I think this one beats the one with the tour bus by a country mile for absurdity:



Asin: B000ALCFYI

I've had that recording since it was a new release (not bad, too fast for my taste, as I recall). My interpretation of the cover is that the deer looking discordant in concrete urban surroundings is suggestive of Bach's music being somewhat discordant in the modern musical and cultural world.

[Madiel]

1/Sometimes I think the major record companies aren't even trying anymore.
2/ Who says it has nothing to do with the music?

For your information:

https://www.impulstanz.com/en/performances/id2543/

Very few artists investigate the relationship between dance and music, sound, space and movement structures so thoroughly and with such outstanding success as Belgian superstar Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. Her choreographic examination of Johann Sebastian Bach is legendary: for example at Burgtheater Wien with Partita 2 (Sei solo) in 2013 or even back in 1994 with Toccata at Volkstheater Wien, her first of a total of 21 productions shown at ImPulsTanz, and most recently in The Goldberg Variations and The Six Brandenburg Concertos at the Wiener Festwochen – but she has also explored the work of Béla Bartók, Ludwig van Beethoven and Arnold Schönberg. The present piece revolves around the Bohemian baroque composer and violinist Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, or, more precisely, his Mysteriensonaten (Mystery Sonatas) or Rosenkranzsonaten (Rosary Sonatas). "There are works that push the boundaries of what can be done on an instrument: such as Bach's Partitas, Liszt's Études d'Execution Transcendante and Biber's Mystery Sonatas", De Keersmaeker says of this work. Six fantastic performers of her company Rosas dance to Biber's exquisite sounds, played on a specially tuned violin (scordatura) by renowned violinist Amandine Beyer and her ensemble Gli Incogniti.



Rosas

"In this choreography, roses not only stand for beauty, but also for resistance: no roses without thorns. The dancing body, alone or in group, becomes an act of defiance made possible by Biber's virtuoso, strongly narrative music.

The sonatas use the intriguing scordatura technique, in which the violin is tuned differently and the notes on the score therefore sound different. This extremely virtuoso technique is performed live by violinist Amandine Beyer and her ensemble Gli Incogniti. They are on stage with six dancers moving through the sonatas.

This performance is dedicated to women who resist: Rosa Bonheur, Rosa Luxemburg, Rosa Parks, Rosa Vergaelen and Rosa, the 15-year-old climate activist who died during the Belgian floods in 2021."

Thanks. This is not the first time that Peter has complained that a cover has nothing to do with the music, only for someone to reveal it has an extremely direct connection with the music.

I would have thought the question germane to this thread is the quality of the photograph.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Thanks. This is not the first time that Peter has complained that a cover has nothing to do with the music, only for someone to reveal it has an extremely direct connection with the music.

I would have thought the question germane to this thread is the quality of the photograph.

Personally, I think that this is a nice photo.  And an even better story about the dancers and what they have been dancing to/interpreting...but that's just me.

PD

[Madiel]

No, it isn't just you. I think it's a good and evocative photo. This is supposed to be a thread about the worst looking covers. Not just ones that certain forum members don't understand. There are plenty of design fails out there, and this isn't one of them.

[KevinP]

I sometimes wonder if record companies think, "Let's use a random photo for the cover and let the listener come up with their own interpretation for why it's there. That'll keep 'em busy!"

Perhaps. But whenever I hear someone's interpretation of how the cover art connects to the music, the only thing I'm convinced of is that you can make an interpretation to connect anything.

[Madiel]

Perhaps. But whenever I hear someone's interpretation of how the cover art connects to the music, the only thing I'm convinced of is that you can make an interpretation to connect anything.

Or, you know, you could read the post that explains the person is dancing to the music that's on the album.

[pjme]

Ok, ok. indeed, quite often it takes some research to find out (to recognise) why a certain design/photograph is used. However- I have no experience in designing - artistic choices can be difficult to understand, confusing or be "just weird".
The Rosas productions are of course quite popular and well documented in European press. So I quickly remembered that Beyer was the soloist for that production.
I'm inclined to accept that apart from delightfully ugly/bad taste/kitschy/stupid artwork, we can also talk and discuss the more "weird", unclear spectrum of the 'artistic' rainbow.

I "really like" these ca 1960-1970 LP's

For a brief moment I thought that mr. List was standing next to the statue of a large Afghan dog....

Peter V.

[Løvfald]

The epitome of extreme minimalism.

[KevinP]

I'd like it better without the black border and text, or at least if they were toned down a bit. The combination of minimalisms and cluttered text/logo is the biggest culprit.

[pjme]

Saeveruds Sinfonia dolorosa had other "strange" (LP) covers:







"The single movement Sinfonia Dolorosa is dedicated to a close friend, a member of the Resistance who was executed by the Nazis. It has the gravitas of the Gravsalme from the Gynt music. It is not acerbic and in fact is about as tough as the Salme - i.e. not very. Its originality can be undeniably felt in the thunderous gallop at 10.35 which then rises to a Leningrad-like paean of what I can only describe as angry praise - Old Testament exultation in blood-letting rather than enlightened New Testament values. It is the second of his three so-called war symphonies.

Read more: http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2003/oct03/Harald_SAEVERUD1.htm#ixzz7rJjVCr5v"

[71 dB]

The epitome of extreme minimalism.

Extreme minimalism feels like an oxymoron. Like someone being aggressively lazy. 

[DaveF]

Saeveruds Sinfonia dolorosa had other "strange" (LP) covers:

Very strange - I'm fairly sure that's the Roman aqueduct at Segovia in that well-known Nordic country, Spain.

[Peter Power Pop]

Bonus points for the typeface used for "HAYDN". (Dig that incomplete "N".)

[Florestan]

[geralmar]

This is far from the "worst"; just strange, even if it is supposed to be a "lifeboat".

[DavidW]

This is far from the "worst"; just strange, even if it is supposed to be a "lifeboat".

That is the Padstow Lifeboat, it serves Cornwall.  Not like an emergency rowboat on a ship, but like the coast guard instead.

[Madiel]

That is the Padstow Lifeboat, it serves Cornwall.  Not like an emergency rowboat on a ship, but like the coast guard instead.

So the thing depicted on the CD cover is literally one of the things mentioned in writing on the CD cover.

Not strange at all then!

[pjme]

The Padstow Lifeboat was composed in 1967 for the launching of a new lifeboat station in Cornwall

Malcolm Arnold wrote. "The Padstow Lifeboat has a long, heroic and distinguished record. The new lifeboat station is near Trevose lighthouse, whose foghorn varies in pitch between Middle C and D. For the sake of musical unity it remains D throughout this march."

1967: Arranged for Wind Band by Ray Woodfield

2000: Arranged for Orchestra by Philip Lane – Opus 94a

Duration: 5 minutes

Publisher: Studio Music

1967: The first public performance was by the Black Dyke Mills Band at the Royal Festival Hall, London, conducted by Sir Malcolm Arnold

Padstow museum

Hmmm, I should vist Britain again....