Elgar's Nimrod and Gorecki's Symphony No. 3
Nimrod is about rebirth and overcoming. Almost any recording of this masterful sadness/glory will do. Gorecki's Sorrowful Songs captures profound sadness like possibly nothing else. Note: there are many, many somewhat fast recordings out there that don't capture the dirge-like trauma of this music. I would go with the slowest possible recording. The soprano shouldn't be taking a breath every second.
What these pieces mean to me: They command absolute respect and gravity, something that is crucial for the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy.
Gabriela Stastny
Instrument of Peace --Olivia Newton John
The song is based on St. Francis of Assisi Prayer. It means that we take on each others burdens to be one
Deborah Moore
Chord Sounds, by Moby
Every time I hear this somber and beautifully simple song, I think about that tragic day and my dear friend Suria Clarke (argh, I am welling up with tears just writing her name) who had just recently started working at WTC and was taken away from us on that sad day. I cannot explain why I so strongly associate this song with 9/11. I think it is because the entire song consists of two powerful and beautifully rich chords seeming to soar ever higher into the heavens. And I think song's combination of emotion and electronica is a very appropriate way to remember the horrible human toll of that day in the midst a lesser but still tragic industrial toll. I think the song really should have been named "In the shadow of no towers" (borrowed from the Art Spiegelman comic.)
Thank you for letting me share this, tears and all.
Anders Ramsay
The Bravest - Tom Paxton
The best and most poignant song about the people we often forget - those who put their lives on the line for others. In this case, the firemen and women climbing up the WTC steps while others attempted to escape.
Michael M
Bob Dylan - Mississippi
This song is on Bob Dylan's album Love and Theft which was released on September 11th, 2001, an album I had been eagerly awaiting. On the 13th or so, I decided a little Bob Dylan was in order as a diversion and I walked over to the old Tower Records on Broadway and picked it up. The song Mississippi will always make me think of that time. The lyrics, at times almost prescient of the day they were released, provided comfort. One lyric: "You can always come back, but you can't come back all the way."
Scott
American Tune
This song by Paul Simon plays as if it were written for that day.
J. M. Lawless
Karl Jenkins THE ARMED MAN: A MASS FOR PEACE
This work sums it up for me --- showing the uselessness of war, violence and hatred and the hope that will bring us through. We are celebrating healing and hope on 9/11 at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center at 2pm. With over 600 performers joining from around the globe, we expect there to be an uplifting buoyancy and vision forward to an otherwise solemn commemoration. Join us!
Iris Derke
The Swan by Saint-Saens
Please just listen to it. Saint-Saens says what I cannot express with words.
Andea Kaminsky
Yusef Lateef from, PART OF THE SEARCH, "Strange Lullaby"
"Who let that dog in the house...?"
...I told yuh ta get that dog outa here..."
"There's no dog in the house."
"Wake Up, man..."
Vic
Yusef Lateef from, PART OF THE SEARCH, "Strange Lullaby"
"Wake Up, man"
"Get that dog outa here"
( so strange )
Vic
"The Wind Cries Mary"
"Somewhere a queen is weeping, somewhere, a king, has no, wife"
Says it all.
I listened to this song over and over again on 9/11. I kept thinking about how many people named "Mary" must have died that day.
James
Lennon's "Imagine"
After accepting and dealing with horrific 9/11, I found comfort in John Lennon's, "Imagine."
Maria Harris
aaron copeland
Aaron Copeland was american, he wrote about outdoors, real"western" type music- cowboys, pastoral scenes, his choral pieces were all american. I would also like tio hear anything played by our military bands..and kate smith singing god bless america
lj
"Ay, New York. Tu sabes," by Ralph Irizarry and Timbalaye
I was very depressed and anxious after 9/11 and I credit the discovery of the Fania All Stars and then Latin jazz with saving my life. Ralph Irizarry's "It's Time" CD was a huge discovery for me. Thus particular track is about 9/11 and expresses views similar to mine.
Jamie Scott
Takemitsu's Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima
It commemorates another major human tragedy that Americans shouldn't forget they initiated in the name of War.
Bruce Oltman
Notorious B.I.G. Ft. Method Man- The What
The obscene chorus of "f**k the world, don't aske for sh**, and everything you get you got to work hard for it" doesn't lend itself to the somber memorial expected on 9/11. Instead, it sums up the feelings I most associate with that day: anger at the world, then a grim determination to persevere in spite of it.
Gus Downes
no special music, please
I think this is tacky. NPR should not be turning this into a holiday. We are not doing ourselves or the world a service with this aggrandizement.
Julie Shevach
Faure's requiem (Pie Jesus)
This music is so heavenly. It was composed by Faure after the death of his parents. It is an excellent choice for the 9/11 victims.
Thank you.
May Valencia
Beautiful Day - U2
"...after the flood all the colors came out", wierdly, the song reminds me how Ny/Nj strangers felt like family in the days and weeks right after. Also reminds me of how insulting that clear blue sky was that day. Maybe not the right word for it but that's the feeling.
Lisa
