# Classical LP Cover Art



## joen_cph

*Classical LP Cover Art -*

a subject which is likely to get increased attention in the future, perhaps even almost reaching the level of interest now shown towards poster art and book illustration ?

Currently, the LP covers of rock, jazz and pop music seem to get more attention, also from scholars. This will probably continue to be the main trend. But the degree of variation concerning the classical album covers is probably being under-estimated, as well as the experimentation and participation of many important artists in their design.

The design museum here in Copenhagen is currently showing an exhibition on LP cover art, perhaps the first large exhibition on that subject anywhere,

http://designmuseum.dk/en/presse/presserum/pladecovers-vinylens-revival
http://designmuseum.dk/en/udstillinger/aktuelle-saerudstillinger/pladecovers-vinylens-revival

but the classical theme only forms a relatively small part of the exhibition.

There are only few books dealing with this subject, including

_Horst Scherg_:"Classique" http://www.soundfountain.com/amb/classiquereview.html

and to some extent

_Jan van Witteloostuyn_:"The Classical Long Playing Record" 
http://www.amazon.com/The-Classical...dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

as well as a large biography on the main pioneer in the field, *Alex Steinweiss*, by _Heller & Reagan_:"Alex Steinweiss",http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/cat...ss_the_inventor_of_the_modern_album_cover.htm

Original album covers by Alex Steinweiss (1907-2011), the "Picasso of the Record Cover", are no doubt going to be collector´s items in the future; more can be read here at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Steinweiss

The number of internet references on the subject also seems to be growing.

A general discography-site like www.discogs.com can be useful to find some record cover designers, but only lists a few of them so far.

Another interesting example of a personal, very dedicated blog is http://recordcovers.wordpress.com

For some often hilarious or bewildering examples, this site dedicated to the "Westminster Gold Series" from the questioning, early 70s is worth checking out: http://www.westminstergold.com/


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## Andreas

Hideous:


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## joen_cph

Here are couple of examples in my collection:

*Steinweiss*, for the Remington label:

Chopin Concertos 1+2/Kilenyi,Prohaska:


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## joen_cph

*Steinweiss:*

for the Everest label: Milhaud & Stravinsky, conducted by Carew









*Miro*, for the Vega label:
Poulenc, Le Bal Masquè









*Richard Hess*, the CBS Stravinsky Sacre with Bernstein/LSO


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## Art Rock

Some of my favourites:

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It is one of the subjects of my blog: link.


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## Andreas

DG some time ago re-issued a Boulez/Stravinsky recording that had this cover art:










I think it has since been replaced, because the copy I have looks like this:










I guess DG changed the cover because the original picture of the diver was quite obviously inspired by the diving section of Leni Riefenstahl's 1938 film Olympia.


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## Art Rock

A few more:

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## Head_case

It's pleasing to hear that they've picked up this obscure art of appreciating the vinyl LP cover in Cph Joen!

I'm a big fan of the 12" LP vinyl cover: it is the format, which the 6x6cm Hasselblad Swedish originated film format, lends itself well for, without post-modern cropping. Of course, with the larger 12 inch image cover, the quality of the image could not be as easily masked, as it can be with smaller 5" CD covers, which are mostly mediocre, and poorly printed, unlike the high gloss finish of the LP covers.

I love the alternative rock vinyl LPs which are still selling like hotcakes with the dark goth tones:










When it comes to classical LP covers, I think I must get to see a few more. I must confess, that seeing a near life size mugshot of Simon Rattle isn't my idea of a great cover. Cecelia Bartoli in her younger years perhaps...and Jacqueline du Pré wistfully stretched over the 12" vinyl bowing her cello another...


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## joen_cph

There are some striking examples here - perhaps if possible inform about the album cover designer, to discover some possible big names in that field ? Admittedly I was mainly thinking about LP cover information, meaning pre-1990 releases, but CDs as shown here can do as well.


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## Head_case

The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club cover is done by Lindsay Ljungkull - famous for her works:

http://www.lindsayljungkull.com/lindsayljungkull.com

the music is marketed to a specific niche; possibly this appeals to young 20's students, whereas the cover of Simon Rattle, clearly corners the market for their grandmothers 

Here is a cover which made it in the CD era - they failed to release this on vinyl LP :/










At first glance, it seems rather banal; the box writing of the text and the glitter over the cover, messes up the photograph, which is actually a classic by Joyce Tenneson:

http://www.tenneson.com/content/portfolios

You would wonder...why the editor (Simon Tyrell) would go and destroy the image potential - Joyce is a fantastic people photographer, however let's not forget the context.

Classical music, in 1996, when this album came out, was essentially ... staid...old-fashioned, and academic. It wasn't right to market sexy images, even ghost images, like Szymanowski's violin concerto album, to an audience. When you read the editorial of this landmark album, by Robin Golding, several themes spring to mind.

Golding sees Szymanowski's work as opulent: his writings on Szymanowski's CD notes burst with fervour and vitality; he describes the opulence and youthful energy of the work with intensity. The image cover, somewhat eclipsed in the conservative EMI classics way (if any of you have a collection of EMI classics, you will notice they have the most staid and boring album covers ever. They are possibly the worse, except for Naxos CD covers, which try to be interesting, and universally fail). This new form of marketing ......romantic tinged album covers, appealing to a new and younger generation of classical listeners, with the subtle nudity of the young lady's body exposed on the album cover, was hitherto unseen in classical LP covers. It was a phenomenal marketing success leading to the wave of interesting turning towards Poland, and making the Polish proud to see their neglected Szymanowski rise up from the eclipse of his reputation following the second world war when Polish culture, and its civilisation was decimated. Even for EMI Classics - such a cover was rather radically different from their doodle designs of classic albums, like the Lutoslawski and Penderecki Classics:










And as for the competition, it still looks rather dated, trading on some well-worn advertising devices:









With the shift towards CD mainstream marketing, the LP art work has slowly become a more niche specialism. When I thumb through a lot of non-classical CDs, its striking how many of the album covers are done by the bands; the bands' friends, or someone linked to them, rather than paying a big budget.


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## joen_cph

Head_case said:


> The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club cover is done by Lindsay Ljungkull - famous for her works:
> 
> http://www.lindsayljungkull.com/lindsayljungkull.com
> 
> the music is marketed to a specific niche; possibly this appeals to young 20's students, whereas the cover of Simon Rattle, clearly corners the market for their grandmothers
> 
> Here is a cover which made it in the CD era - they failed to release this on vinyl LP :/
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> At first glance, it seems rather banal; the box writing of the text and the glitter over the cover, messes up the photograph, which is actually a classic by Joyce Tenneson:
> 
> http://www.tenneson.com/content/portfolios
> 
> You would wonder...why the editor (Simon Tyrell) would go and destroy the image potential - Joyce is a fantastic people photographer, however let's not forget the context.
> 
> Classical music, in 1996, when this album came out, was essentially ... staid...old-fashioned, and academic. It wasn't right to market sexy images, even ghost images, like Szymanowski's violin concerto album, to an audience. When you read the editorial of this landmark album, by Robin Golding, several themes spring to mind.
> 
> Golding sees Szymanowski's work as opulent: his writings on Szymanowski's CD notes burst with fervour and vitality; he describes the opulence and youthful energy of the work with intensity. The image cover, somewhat eclipsed in the conservative EMI classics way (if any of you have a collection of EMI classics, you will notice they have the most staid and boring album covers ever. They are possibly the worse, except for Naxos CD covers, which try to be interesting, and universally fail). This new form of marketing ......romantic tinged album covers, appealing to a new and younger generation of classical listeners, with the subtle nudity of the young lady's body exposed on the album cover, was hitherto unseen in classical LP covers. It was a phenomenal marketing success leading to the wave of interesting turning towards Poland, and making the Polish proud to see their neglected Szymanowski rise up from the eclipse of his reputation following the second world war when Polish culture, and its civilisation was decimated. Even for EMI Classics - such a cover was rather radically different from their doodle designs of classic albums, like the Lutoslawski and Penderecki Classics:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And as for the competition, it still looks rather dated, trading on some well-worn advertising devices:
> 
> View attachment 9138
> 
> 
> With the shift towards CD mainstream marketing, the LP art work has slowly become a more niche specialism. When I thumb through a lot of non-classical CDs, its striking how many of the album covers are done by the bands; the bands' friends, or someone linked to them, rather than paying a big budget.


Yes, when browsing through the EMI LP covers, it does seem that this company has been one of the most conservative of the major labels, together with Philips and the American MHS for example, and opposed to the often more adventurous RCA and CBS. EMI mostly has reproductions of paintings or landscape photographs, or portraits of musicians, decorating their album covers. Some exceptions have been the charming, Art Nouveau- and Art Deco-inspired covers by *Dick Ellescas*









or the quasi-political collage of Penderecki´s "Te Deum"









The more modern collage medium was very much favoured among American labels, less so in Europe, it seems. I think that trying to reach the younger generations as a buying segment via a conscious album strategy was especially apparent from the late 1960s, and partly inspired by the rock music culture. Around 1970 there is a wealth of psychedelic/"Sgt. Pepper"-inspired, colourful covers, such as

the Horenstein Nonesuch LP of Nielsen´s 5th Symphony, by *Roger Hane*









or the "Greatest Hits" series on CBS, by *Milton Glaser and others*


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## joen_cph

Questioning political comments are rare but do exist at that time too, such as the Westminster Scherchen recording of Haydn´s "Farewell" and "Military" symphonies, alluding to the Vietnam war:

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Similarly, a reflection of increased liberal social attitudes can be seen, ranging from the vulgarily-humourous femme-fatale of the Ormandy "Bolero" on CBS, a photograph taken from *"Harper´s Bazaar"*

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to the Westminster Gold Wagner Ring excerpts (if mods disapprove of these, let me know)

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The Crossroads label was especially fond of satire on classical music snobbery, seen in many covers by *Sandy Hoffmann*

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