Worst looking CD/LP artwork

[Moonfish]

This Rameau opera staged inside a refrigerator has to qualify for this thread. Alternatively, we could have a new thread for the most stupid stagings of operas... 

[asin] B00KQHWAFA[/asin]

[Ken B]

It doesn't bother me at all how anyone wants to paint a harpsichord, but I think one criticism that could be levelled at Lisa Creed's artwork is, in this case at least, it's anachronistic. A harpsichord, even a newly built one, is an instrument from a bygone era.

In other words, just like the lute, theorbo, baryton, arpeggione, and the viola da gamba, no matter how new they are, they're old.

Not really. The harpsichord is a relatively recent discovery, pretty much unknown from about 1810 to 1960. Its use is modern and revolutionary, not traditional and conservative. It is the symbol of the modern Baroque revival as much as much as the Palace of Westminster is a symbol of the Gothic Revival of the 19th century. Even the way harpsichords are made now is radically different from how the few made in the say the 1930s were manufactured; modern makers had to learn from old instruments in museums, not from their inherited craft tradition.

[Peter Power Pop]

Not really. The harpsichord is a relatively recent discovery, pretty much unknown from about 1810 to 1960. Its use is modern and revolutionary, not traditional and conservative. It is the symbol of the modern Baroque revival as much as much as the Palace of Westminster is a symbol of the Gothic Revival of the 19th century. Even the way harpsichords are made now is radically different from how the few made in the say the 1930s were manufactured; modern makers had to learn from old instruments in museums, not from their inherited craft tradition.

I thought the harpsichord was superseded by the fortepiano, which in turn was superseded by the piano.

(Hang on, I'll just have a quick read of some music history so I can give the impression that I know what I'm talking about... Won't be a minute...)

Righty-o.

According to this charty thing (from Thomson Learning)...



...it was organ > clavichord > harpsichord > virginal > pianoforte.

(Well, there's something I didn't know. I always thought the virginal came before the harpsichord.)

Whilst reading bits and pieces about the history of keyboard instruments, I came across this snippet about the fortepiano. Wikipedia said: "It was the instrument for which Haydn, Mozart, and the early Beethoven wrote their piano music."

Now I'm puzzled.

(Warning: Pointless Questions Alert) Why don't people play the fortepiano more often than they do? The harpsichord seems to be popular at the moment, but the fortepiano – for which all that music was written – isn't. So why do people play fortepiano music on the grand piano? From the Baroque era backwards, modern musicians are happy to play on the instruments of those times, but from the Classical era onwards it's the grand piano all the way. Why?

And one more question: Why have I strayed so far off the topic of bad CD/LP artwork?

[Ken B]

I thought the harpsichord was superseded by the fortepiano, which in turn was superseded by the piano.

(Hang on, I'll just have a quick read of some music history so I can give the impression that I know what I'm talking about... Won't be a minute...)

Righty-o.

According to this charty thing (from Thomson Learning)...



...it was organ > clavichord > harpsichord > virginal > pianoforte.

(Well, there's something I didn't know. I always thought the virginal came before the harpsichord.)

Whilst reading bits and pieces about the history of keyboard instruments, I came across this snippet about the fortepiano. Wikipedia said: "It was the instrument for which Haydn, Mozart, and the early Beethoven wrote their piano music."

Now I'm puzzled.

(Warning: Pointless Questions Alert) Why don't people play the fortepiano more often than they do? The harpsichord seems to be popular at the moment, but the fortepiano – for which all that music was written – isn't. So why do people play fortepiano music on the grand piano? From the Baroque era backwards, modern musicians are happy to play on the instruments of those times, but from the Classical era onwards it's the grand piano all the way. Why?

And one more question: Why have I strayed so far off the topic of bad CD/LP artwork?

More and more of that music is being played on fortepiano. I own several sets of the Mozart concerti on fp for example, plus Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven, Chopin, Clementi, Hummel solo keyboard.

[Peter Power Pop]

More and more of that music is being played on fortepiano. I own several sets of the Mozart concerti on fp for example, plus Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven, Chopin, Clementi, Hummel solo keyboard.

That's good to hear*.

(*Pun definitely not intended.)

[Peter Power Pop]

This Rameau opera staged inside a refrigerator has to qualify for this thread. Alternatively, we could have a new thread for the most stupid stagings of operas... 

[asin] B00KQHWAFA[/asin]

I'm not keen on using words such as "travesty", "abomination", or "horrendousness to the power of infinty", so I won't. But...

Rameau is my favourite composer, and I have pretty much every Rameau recording available. If a CD or DVD has the word "Rameau" on it, then I'm in. I can't get enough Rameau.

As far as Rameau DVDs go, I've bought just about all of them. I've tolerated trampolining dancers in Les Paladins, boozing characters in Platée, austerity and minimalism in Les Boréades (so much black!) – all to hear that glorious, glorious music.

But this DVD of Hippolyte et Aricie, however, is something I'm extremely reluctant to go anywhere near. I started watching it, and got as far as the bit where a stag was hanging upside down and bleeding out. Some things I can watch, and some things I can't. (I'm squeamish.)

As for the opera being set in a fridge, all I can do is ask this simple (and, I hope, reasonable) question: Why?

I suppose I will buy it sometime, but I don't expect to be watching it anytime soon.

http://www.youtube.com/v/Ly-Mwp_kFFs

By the way, the fridge setting reminded me of the scene in Flushed Away where Roddy and Rita are trapped in The Toad's icemaker, facing certain doom...

[ibanezmonster]

Maybe in the future, there will be a Stockhausen opera set in a toilet...

(if there isn't already?) 

[Peter Power Pop]

Maybe in the future, there will be a Stockhausen opera set in a toilet...

(if there isn't already?) 

I wouldn't doubt it.

[Peter Power Pop]

Maybe in the future, there will be a Stockhausen opera set in a toilet...

(if there isn't already?) 

How about Schumann's Genoveva, where the entire opera is set in a white room with a sink? (Yes, really.)

http://www.youtube.com/v/2ydn0Fx3mZI

(Incredulous review)

[Peter Power Pop]

This may not qualify as "worst artwork", but I do think it qualifies as "unfortunate positioning in a video":



(From http://arthaus-musik.com/dvd/musik/oper/media/details/tamerlano.html)

[North Star]

I think I've found the worst Hyperion album cover there is..

[Peter Power Pop]

I think I've found the worst Hyperion album cover there is..

I think you might be right there, North Star. That cover is so out of place from the rest of Hyperion's catalogue that I'm thinking someone in the graphics department must have only recently been hired. ("Those other covers are boring! I'll make them a cover that's much better.")

[Peter Power Pop]

I think I've found the worst Hyperion album cover there is..

How about this for worst Hyperion cover?



And the more you look at it, the worse it gets.

Album details at Hyperion Records

(Cover found at Deep Glamour's blog post, "A Marketing Mystery".)

[Peter Power Pop]

Unfortunately, the flag in between the "E" and "S" of "PALESTRINA" makes it look like two words to me. It looks like "Pale Strina":



Because I'm Australian, that second word would be pronounced "strine-a", as in "strine", as in the word meaning Australian slang.

So now I'm thinking of watered-down slang (i.e., pale strine) – all because of a flag in between an "E" and an "S".

Album details at Hyperion Records

[EigenUser]

This may not qualify as "worst artwork", but I do think it qualifies as "unfortunate positioning in a video":



(From http://arthaus-musik.com/dvd/musik/oper/media/details/tamerlano.html)

I thought that was George Carlin for a second...

[Moonfish]

I found this one a bit odd for classical music....

[Peter Power Pop]

The second thing I thought of when looking at this image was: "What's with all that black space? Why not have the text there, in white?"

But the first thing I thought was: "Up, up and away!"


(I discovered the cover thanks to a post by Discobolus. Thanks, Disco baby!)

[Peter Power Pop]

I found this one a bit odd for classical music....

This may be a bit semantic, but I thought "Mystic" would be the wrong word for that picture. To me, that picture says "Spooky Moments Of Classical Music."

Judging by the image on the cover, I fully expect to hear Danse macabre on the album.

https://www.youtube.com/v/ytpqcJ1IfoA

[Moonfish]

This may be a bit semantic, but I thought "Mystic" would be the wrong word for that picture. To me, that picture says "Spooky Moments Of Classical Music."

Judging by the image on the cover, I fully expect to hear Danse macabre on the album.

Good guess!!!   

These were the "spooky" selections:

[Brian]

Actually, I like that black space - it's rather striking. The white space of the music stand is what I find intrusive - a little bit would have been good for sake of balance, but surely not that much.