Copland - Fanfare for the Common Man

I play this at home just on 9/11 as a personal, private tribute to everyone who died and especially for the brave firefighters from my neighborhood firehouse on Middagh Street in Brooklyn Heights - none of them came back. I was on the Promenade when the 2nd plane flew past - the horrific images embedded forever in my mind - still too painful - all those pieces of paper fluttering in the smoke above us, grabbing hold of the man next to me in that crowd of thousands watching in horror as the first tower collapsed - both of us shaking uncontrollably, unable to let go as others around us collapsed, so many screaming or frozen in place - within minutes that brown smoke enveloping us and the air force jets roaring... Months of smoke and dust choked our lovely neighborhood along with unrelenting grief as we watched the daily loads of debris come over the Brooklyn Bridge and down our streets. Many nights waking to that burning smell, running to close my windows and hearing others doing the same all over Pineapple Street...

Alison Murphy