CD cover art designs

[Sarastro]

 

[Keemun]

[sound67]

Thomas

[vandermolen]

What are your favourite CD cover art designs? Which are most appropriate for the music?

Vaughan Williams's 6th and 9th symphonies (both in E Minor) are dark, troubled and stormy.

[Sergeant Rock]

The title and the photograph compliment each other:



Sarge

[Lethevich]

[Elgarian]

This is one of my favourites. Here's the front cover:



It opens up with the CD on the left, and a booklet (built into the structure) on the right:



So then we start leafing through the booklet. Here's the title page:



The booklet is illustrated with reproductions of original posters for Massenet's operas:



The whole thing is designed as a self-contained unity. I almost wouldn't have minded if there hadn't been a CD in it.

(Just kidding.)

[Elgarian]

And another favourite is this. It started life as a collection of individually published CDs, and was then reissued in the form of this box set, preserving all the original art work:



Now the weird thing is that somehow the art mimics both the strengths and the weaknesses of Bantock's music. I always feel I ought to really enjoy his music, because its subject matter - the source of its inspiration - is 'my kind of thing'. And yet ... I always feel that he attempted too much; that his aspirations were greater than his capabilities, so that much of his music (and there are exceptions like the satisfyingly concise Celtic Symphony) delivers less than it promises. And although it's not intentional, the artworks - those High Victorian, somewhat overbearing, verging on kitsch myth-driven images - mimic the music in that respect. They aim unrealistically high. Or at least, I tend to read them that way. Sometimes spectacular in their impact, but falling short of greatness. Like Bantock. A perfect pairing of visual and musical parallels.

[bhodges]

Some fantastic choices.  That Nørgård cover is gorgeous, and the Massenet package is quite a production.  I appreciate companies that take graphics and packaging seriously, even as I recognize that the Naxos model (i.e., a simple template) is probably the route of many these days.

I've put up my favorite before: Chailly's early 20th-century recording (below) from 1994, with cover art from a time when Decca was on a roll, graphically speaking.  Each of the three images represents one of the works: an angel wing acknowledging the origin of Prokofiev's Third Symphony (from The Fiery Angel), a piece of metal for Mosolov's Iron Foundry and a star for the climax of Varèse's Arcana.  That these disparate elements come together so beautifully is a real tribute to the designer.

--Bruce

[Elgarian]

That these disparate elements come together so beautifully is a real tribute to the designer.

That's a really interesting design, isn't it? The star made fuzzy, appearing 'deeper in' behind the picture plane; the importance of the gap between the angel wing and the metal (is it closing, we wonder?); and the intense focal point at that dark tip at the top of the metal structure. There's a lot going on, there: stresses perfectly and dynamically poised.

[bhodges]

That's a really interesting design, isn't it? The star made fuzzy, appearing 'deeper in' behind the picture plane; the importance of the gap between the angel wing and the metal (is it closing, we wonder?); and the intense focal point at that dark tip at the top of the metal structure. There's a lot going on, there: stresses perfectly and dynamically poised.

You are right: a lot going on, with the three objects in intense dialogue with the red background.  It is also a bit of an "edgy" design for classical music (IMHO), but I think the medium would be well-served by more of this kind of creativity. 

Just recalled another one that I like: this collection of the Brandenburg Concertos by Rinaldo Alessandrini and Concerto Italiano.  Similarly, it uses an unorthodox approach, albeit with completely different results.  (Someone should really help that deer find its way out.  )

--Bruce

[Elgarian]

Just recalled another one that I like: this collection of the Brandenburg Concertos by Rinaldo Alessandrini and Concerto Italiano.  Similarly, it uses an unorthodox approach, albeit with completely different results.  (Someone should really help that deer find its way out. 

Yes, a very clever image, hovering somewhere between bright hope and grey desolation; though in this case I wonder how it relates to the Brandenburgs. Is there a link that I don't get?

[CRCulver]

Some fantastic choices.  That Nørgård cover is gorgeous, and the Massenet package is quite a production.  I appreciate companies that take graphics and packaging seriously, even as I recognize that the Naxos model (i.e., a simple template) is probably the route of many these days.

Dacapo switched to a single template format a couple of years back, it it is still coming out with some lovely designs. Check out the disc with Per Norgard's Third and Seventh Symphonies which was released in February, lovely embossing and colours.

ECM New Series has also been doing more with less for three decades.

[snyprrr]

I remember the Ashkenazy DSCH No.5 on Decca, with DSCH sitting at his desk, looking over his shoulder, and his shadow became the shadow of Stalin. Cool.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

As far as "most appropriate to the composer" here are two I like, both Zemlinsky:





Unfortunately the above image doesn't accurately reflect the true richness of this cover - in reality there's more of a stained glass/gold leafing effect with finely etched detail.


And this one - maybe not as exciting but still reminds me of Zemlinsky:

[Gurn Blanston]

This has always been my favorite Vivaldi cover, as well as one of my favorite Vivaldi disks. The history of masks and Venice goes back for centuries, thus is very evocative of place and time.

[Bogey]

These:

[vandermolen]

Great posts - thank you 

The Norgard Symphony No 6 cover picture has always impressed me but I don't have the CD

[Lethevich]

Lest we forget...



Shame I can't find a big scan

[Elgarian]

The Planets: my favourite so far.



While in futuristic mode, let's also not forget what Dark Angel calls 'The Baroque Diva Robots'.



I've never heard artificial life forms sing Handel so well as this before.