Superman by Five for Fighting
I was on a ship in the middle of the Pacific ocean on 9/11. When I finally got back home to the NY metro area in December, this was the first song I remember hearing as I watched it performed on television.
Sarah
Samuel Barber's violin concerto--played by Hilary Hahn
It has a very sweet melancholy and sad theme.
A very American sound for a fiercely American tragedy. I heard it only once and knew immediately, it belonged in this program.
Carol Harbich
Idumea - Sacred Harp song from Cold Mountain
I dedicated this song to the firefighters in our neighborhood at the 9-11 memorial sing we had at the Living Room at the end of the first year. The last verse seemed so fitting.
47b Idumea
Tune: Ananias Davisson, 1816
Words: Charles Wesley, 1763
And am I born to die?
To lay this body down!
And must my trembling spirit fly
Into a world unknown?
A land of deepest shade,
Unpierced by human thought;
The dreary regions of the dead,
Where all things are forgot!
Soon as from earth I go,
What will become of me?
Eternal happiness or woe
Must then my portion be!
Waked by the trumpet sound,
I from my grave shall rise;
And see the Judge with glory crowned,
And see the flaming skies!
Linda Griggs
anthing from Josh Groban's first album
once it came out I listened to it almost non-stop - especially at night. The whole album brought me great comfort.
Anne Majsak
The first two, and last, choruses from John Adams' opera, The Death of Klinghoffer
On 9/11, I was in London, observing John Adams as he coached singers preparing to perform this opera, which probes an earlier, unthinkable, event. Late that
afternoon, after the rehearsal, we heard about New York. The next morning, the group re-assembled. Most of us had direct connections to the part of the city that was hit (my own, first, thoughts were about WNYC, and my friends and colleagues there). Considering the subject of the opera, it was like gathering in the artistic belly of the beast. As if the music had been there already.
Thank you for reimagining yourselves,
WNYC.
Ruth Dreier
Aaron Copland "Fanfare for the Common Man"
I think this a very stirring piece. It is approptiate for 9/11 because the 3,000+ people that perished on thet day, the people that got on trains or buses simply to go to work, the police officers and firefighters who came to their rescue only to perish themselves, where common men/women. They deserve a fanfare in their honor.
Charlie N.
i would like
not to have to be reminded daily in your ad that 9/11 is going to be an emotional day for New Yorkers. Is this going to continue every day for the next month? intrusive and upsetting.
jill
Brahms and/or Verdi Requiems especially Dies Irae
It emcompasses the tragedy and the healing.
edward ronstadt
America the Beautiful
It may seem as if my suggestion is rather generic in that the song is one that seems like an obvious one to make. However, the third verse, which I note below, has the words "Thine alabaster cities gleam, undimmed by human tears". After 9/11 my church sang the song for weeks at the end of mass and that verse really resonated with me. Every year since then my church has sung that song at the mass on the weekend closest to 9/11 and I have mentioned to my priest how important I think it is to make sure that the third verse is sung prior to him coming down the aisle because I think it speaks to the strength of our country. Thank you for your consideration.
O Beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
Mary Catherine Sudiak
Hindemith's "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd"
- deeply affecting piece (subtitled "Requiem for Those We Love"
- commissioned by Robert Shaw for the Collegiate Chorale, an NYC institution
- music by Paul Hindemith, an immigrant to the US who fled Nazi tyranny, just as our modern day Muslim immigrants are looking to the US for a freer life
- words by Walt Whitman, America's greatest poet, and a resident of NYC (Brooklyn to be exact)
John Maclay
Future Memory by New York City band Heth and Jed
Future Memory's lyrics is about HEALING and creating new memories while still honoring the past. Would love to see this added to the playlist.
Some of the lyrics:
I'm falling in love with a memory. Of people of places that I've never seen.
Delilah Neilsen
How To Disappear Completely, RadioHead
The barrage of images that followed after the attacks numbed me. I was in shock and couldn't believe what I had witnessed. I wanted to escape this nightmare and get back to my reality, this song grounded me. Like a mantra that I repeated, "I'm not here, this isn't happening", I believe these lyrics kept me from depression. Slowly I accepted what had occurred, slowly.
William A. Ortega
My own compostion
I am a song writer who has studied with world class composers. I recently wrote a song for the families of 911. I have been told that this song will outlive us all. I would love to e-mail to you. It is titled "Let This Be A Dream" Please allow me to send you a copy so that you can judge for yourself.
Thank You
Anthony Ramirez
O Voto Tremendo from Mozart's Idomeneo
We were rehearsing Mozart's IDOMENEO at the Met when 9-11 happened. 2 days passed before we could continue with rehearsals, and when the chorus sang "O Voto Tremendo", it would never have the same
meaning.( Oh tremendous vow! Horrendous, Spectacle! Death now reigns and opens wide the doors of the cruel abyss.) Every performance, with tears in our eyes, we looked out into the partially filled audience. The music created such a depth of anger and sorrow in us when this was sung, and an innocent child lie dead on the stage. I think of how we have grown stronger spiritually since this horrible event.
carolyn sielski
The Way You Look Tonight-Frank Sinatra
I feel like a lot of people probably lost the loves of their lives on 9/11. When they sit quietly to think about them, I bet they picture them on their wedding day or on a special night. Even though 9/11 will be a sad day, this song is bitter sweet--conjuring a happy moment of the way a lost love looks.
Tessa
"Is That All There Is?" Peggy Lee 1969 YouTube
Fire and flame...If that's all there is, my friend, THEN LET'S KEEP DANCING.
Eleonore Pepin
a full uninterrupted and boss narrated playing of "The Rising"
Hope out of the ashes...I remember being astonished the first time I listened. And weeping. And again 5 years later. They are story songs of imagining how it felt to be there as a first responder, as a spouse missing a husband/wife, the awkward conversations(You're missing). But also of redemption (My City of Ruins, beautifully repurposed).
Paul
"Hurry Up Sky"
Jen Chapin, a song writer/singer from Brooklyn has written and recorded a beautiful song, HURRY UP SKY, about the tragedy of 911 and in tribute to Christie Irvine Ryan who was killed in the 911 attack. It can be found on her CD, LINGER.
Mickey Clement
Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue"
Its ultimately redemptive tone is eternally, quintessentially "New York," as we best imagine the city to be. When I listen to "Rhapsody in Blue" I hear the composition urging us to look forward and let the machine of the metropolis and its people continue to thrive in harmony.
Jay in Brooklyn
