William Finn's Elegies
The composer of such shows as "Falsettoland" and "25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" reflects on the people, and the creatures, he has lost. The song Boom Boom/Goodbye is directly about 9/11, but nearly any song on the album will make people reflect.
Martha
"When the Towers Rise Again" by Apostolica
The writers and performers of this song are friends, but the song itself is a beautiful tribute to those who lost their lives on that day....thank you
Kathy W
"Tuesday" by Amy Fairchild
It evokes the historic and emotional power of that tragic day when two of my loved ones were living in NYC. It was traumatic for me personally as it was for the entire world.
Ted Fairchild Jr
Don McLean's The Day the Music Died
This song has always had a melancholic feel and is a memorialization of loss. As a result, it's a song that I tend to think of when I think of 9/11.
Wayne Baker
MOs Def - Umi Says
i listened to this calm, very new york album (black on both sides) on repeat for the rest of that month, as all the news and chaos rolled out. Lyrics : "tomorrow may never come. For you or me, life is not promised....shine your light on the world."
shilpa Mankikar
Steal Away: Charlie Haden & Hank Jones
This incredible album of spirituals, hymns and folk tunes by two of our greatest American musicians is some of the most healing music I have ever heard. Not only did it help me in the months following 9/11, I send it as a gift to anyone I know who is dealing with any kind of sorrow or loss - death of someone close, difficult medical diagnosis.
Someone said that laughter is the best medicine, but Steal Away is my best medicine.
MJ Territo
U2- Where the Streets Have No Name
At the 2002 Superbowl right after 9/11, U2 was featured in the halftime show. I was only 9 years old at the time, but the performance has been singed in my mind since. Bono's heroic wailing, the Edge's tingling riff, and the colossal display of the names of the victims combined to make my hairs stand on end, and tears drip from my eyes. Despite their Irish background, U2 made me feel closer to my country, and I think everyone else felt the same way. It was a stunning act, showcasing their most emotional tune, in the most emotionally vulnerable time this country had seen in a while. Remind us of that moment once more on 9/11.
Frank Fonseca
Adam And Eve
a new beginning...we can use this now
cindy Meyers
"When The Towers Rise Aagain" By Apostolica
This is a beautiful tribute to the victims of 9/11. This song embodies "never forget," because while history books will tell our children and grandchildren of the events that transpired, songs like this will preserve the raw emotion of how it actually made us feel.
Mike
When the towers rise again
This sing brings the true meaning of the USA being a place that will never be put down. We will never forget and the people who were lost on 9/11 will always be remembered by the new towers rising.
Doreen
Gorecki's "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs"
Just listen to it.
Pete
Eroica and Faure's requiem
The choices need no explanation.
John J. Christiano
When the Towers Rise Again
A very meaningful and beautiful song in honor of all who were affected by 9/11 - we will never forget, but will only grow stronger in our love for the life we have been given in our beautiful country. God Bless the USA.
Gloria - Budd Lake, NJ
September Swale by Beth Anderson
It is beautiful and peaceful and written to describe September when all is well.
Beth Anderson
when the towers rise again
it means to me even in the worst destruction we americans will rise again with faith and hope for all mankind
jean siino
Violinist Ilya Gringolts performing "Raisins and Almonds"; also Renee Fleming singing "Amazing Grace." I’m pretty sure you will have these performances in your archive
On Sunday, October 28th, 2001 the City of New York held a memorial service for 9/11 families in the shadow of the still-smoldering World Trade Center. I was there as a chaplain with the Red Cross, along with many other volunteers and several thousand family members of the WTC victims.
For most of the service I sat with a grieving father. I put my arm around him. He told me about his son. We prayed together, but mostly just sat with each other, as the service was broadcast through loudspeakers, through the same air which hang heavy with the smell of the burning WTC pile.
I remember feeling how most of the words spoken by the dignitaries seemed to miss the mark, even when it was only a matter of being insufficient to the moment. The notes of Raisins and Almonds passed over and among us saying what words did not, promising that another day would come, that even this day could offer a taste of grace. And then Amazing Grace. The great testimony of deliverance was unadorned, full of emotion, the singer near breaking yet still singing. As were most of those listening, as was our city.
After we parted, the next time I saw my partner for that day, he was gathering Christmas presents for his family, who would celebrate that year even as they mourned their beloved. Again and again, in the recovery I saw people look past what did not help, and hold fast to whatever ministered to them, as these pieces of music did to me.
Paul Bellan-Boyer
TOdd RUnDgReN ~> A WIZARD, A TRUE STAR
cause...
"Sometimes I don't know...
I just don't know what to feel" ~>
So play it all ->
& PLAY IT LOUD!
("what would I do with myself
if the world was gone...?)
Vic
John Cage, In A Landscape, played by Margaret Leng Tan
I remember listening to this piece after 9/11/01 in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, where I lived and still live. The silences contained within Cage's composition resonate with that first night when we waited in front of our TVs, not knowing how the world would change.
Mark Sussman
Chopin's Nocturnes
I was a volunteer at St Paul's Chapel, one of the respite centers for workers at Ground Zero. During the night one of the nuns, Sr Helene Marie would often play this music and it had a wonderfully sad yet calming effect. (she also could jam with jazz musicians)
Eileen Green
