# Horrible album covers (classical music)



## Skakner

Classical music albums of course.
Lack of inspiration, bad taste, eccentricity, you name it...
Here is an impromptu *Top-10*
Feel free to post your choices and/or make some comments.

*10*









*9*









*8*









*7*









*6*


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## Skakner

*5*









*4*









*3*









*2*









*1*


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## open

Skakner said:


>


Actually this cover is AWESOME!


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## MatthewWeflen

I have a nominee ^^^


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## Skakner

open said:


> Actually this cover is AWESOME!


For *Star Wars* maybe!!


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## Bxnwebster

These album covers are so horrible that they are excellent.

































(the C.P.E. Bach one is from a series where it shows his face on smart watches, TVs, smartphones, etc... to this day I have no clue why they thought this was a good idea)


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## NoCoPilot

What, you got sumthin against nekkid wimmen?

Our discussion of Anton Reicha in another thread alerted me to this boxed set, with a portrait that makes him look like a leper.









Also, I won't post any examples, but I'm always annoyed by album covers by female performers where their cleavage is used to sell albums. That's just sexist.


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## elgar's ghost

I've seen nearly all of these sleeves before either on TC or on other sites and most never fail to make me wince or get me shaking my head with incomprehension. They are the cover design equivalent of the worst sort of _regietheater_. That Farinelli one - it give me the creeps despite the fact that we aren't supposed to be fazed by trans-whatever-the-term-is-today stuff anymore. And the Parsifal one is just pathetic. People get paid for creating this?


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## Open Book

There is another thread like this, but a reboot is OK. 

It appears that classical covers can be artistically worse and more tasteless than popular music covers ever get. Or do we just expect more from them?

These are bad in so many ways. Skipper Karajan on a boat. It looks like they used one of his vacation photos.


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## Skakner

Does anyone notice a resemblance of Farinelli "creation" to the 2014 Eurovision winner?


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## MatthewWeflen

Open Book said:


> There is another thread like this, but a reboot is OK.
> 
> It appears that classical covers can be artistically worse and more tasteless than popular music covers ever get. Or do we just expect more form them?
> 
> These are bad in so many ways. Skipper Karajan on a boat. It looks like they used one of his vacation photos.


The Karajan one is bad, but more for the atrocious graphic design and font choices than the photo. They could have put this on "La Mer" and it would just be silly.


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## Allegro Con Brio

Check out this thread, a real treasure trove. It's been a great source of entertainment for me every once in a while:lol: Strange album/CD covers of classical works


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## Skakner

There are more (bad) lifestyle Karajan covers...
sailor, pilot, supercar driver, etc...


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## Open Book

Karajan was a master of many things besides the orchestra.


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## Manxfeeder

Skakner said:


> *5*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *4*]


She's holding up VW hubcaps. Shouldn't this be a cover for something by Vaughan Williams?


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## SearsPoncho

open said:


> Actually this cover is AWESOME!


That cover for Boult's The Planets looks like a cross between the 1980 film Flash Gordon (awesome!) and Barbarella.


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## MatthewWeflen

Skakner said:


> There are more (bad) lifestyle Karajan covers...
> sailor, pilot, supercar driver, etc...


The bad HVK covers occurred after his death, in the 90s. DG made some really ill-advised design choices in that time period. The original issue covers were far more tasteful. I have scanned them all for my box set project:

The Grand Karajan Review Thread


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## Rmathuln

Open Book said:


> Karajan was a master of many things besides the orchestra.


Besides.
How about "instead of"


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## Open Book

MatthewWeflen said:


> The bad HVK covers occurred after his death, in the 90s. DG made some really ill-advised design choices in that time period. The original issue covers were far more tasteful. I have scanned them all for my box set project:
> 
> The Grand Karajan Review Thread


I remember DG as having really nice covers whether photographs of the performers or artwork.

The top one looks like a scene from a James Bond movie. Karajan could have just just come down a ski slope shooting at bad guys and having vanquished them, into the arms of The Girl.


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## Skakner

Manxfeeder said:


> She's holding up VW hubcaps. Shouldn't this be a cover for something by Vaughan Williams?


:lol::clap:
...


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## fluteman

Some true classics here. Here's one from my collection that most of you probably haven't had the privilege of seeing before:


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## fluteman

Another one, that I somehow missed picking up:


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## Reichstag aus LICHT

Manxfeeder said:


> She's holding up VW hubcaps. Shouldn't this be a cover for something by Vaughan Williams?


I knew the model in that photo. Oddly enough, her name was Flo Scampi.


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## Guest002

Skakner said:


> ...


I don't know why we don't all just close this forum and go and add comments to David Hurwitz's video channel instead, since that's where most of these "original ideas" for new threads seem to originate these days.


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## consuono

AbsolutelyBaching said:


> I don't know why we don't all just close this forum and go and add comments to David Hurwitz's video channel instead, since that's where most of these "original ideas" for new threads seem to originate these days.


I had never heard of Hurwitz before I came to this forum, but looking at the guy I get this Rob Reiner vibe. :lol:


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## SONNET CLV

*Horrible album covers*



Open Book said:


> ...
> These are bad in so many ways. Skipper Karajan on a boat. It looks like they used one of his vacation photos.





MatthewWeflen said:


> The Karajan one is bad, but more for the atrocious graphic design and font choices than the photo. They could have put this on "La Mer" and it would just be silly.





Skakner said:


> There are more (bad) lifestyle Karajan covers...
> sailor, pilot, supercar driver, etc...


Actually ... I think nearly _any_ cover with Karajan on it qualifies as a "horrible album cover". What is even worse though, generally, is the musical interpretation on the disc inside that cover.


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## NoCoPilot

Fahrvergnügen. I would've preferred baby moons.


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## Barbebleu

Skakner said:


> Does anyone notice a resemblance of Farinelli "creation" to the 2014 Eurovision winner?


That's actually who I thought it was until I read it!


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## Barbebleu

Reichstag aus LICHT said:


> I knew the model in that photo. Oddly enough, her name was Flo Scampi.


Very clever. Didn't Vaughan-Williams write a piece dedicated to her?:lol:


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## Guest002

consuono said:


> I had never heard of Hurwitz before I came to this forum, but looking at the guy I get this Rob Reiner vibe. :lol:


Well, he only started posting last May or thereabouts, to fill his pandemic days.

But given the propensity of people to post in the Current Listening threads "I'm just listening to this boxed set or album" literally just hours after he's posted a video about it/them, it's clear quite a few posters here follow him on Youtube with alacrity (yet never feel the need to bother acknowledging where "their" playing ideas come from).

Or this thread: what a brilliant idea to post about bad CD covers!!... except that Hurwitz posted a video about it about 14 hours earlier. And used at least three of the same pictures the OP "thought" so egregiously bad. So again, a "borrowed" idea (and some borrowed content!) without a hint of acknowledgement.

I try to call out the most egregious unacknowledged "borrowings" when I spot them.

I really don't mind people being inspired one way or another by other people. I am myself frequently pointed in listening directions by Hurwitz. But at least have the decency to admit that you _were_ inspired by someone else, please! It's basic courtesy (and honesty). ("You" used in the general sense of, 'people who borrow Hurwitz's ideas without acknowledgement').


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## Granate

Probably this is the thread you were looking for, unless you specifically want to be more judgemental

*Strange album/CD covers of classical works*


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## erki

As on the hint above by Granate all there is to accomplish with tread like this is some kind of confrontation. Yes, there always will be someone ready to jump in and share the good bashing. But why do it?
BTW Out of the samples you picked I find half of them really good actually.


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## Heck148

[................


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## Heck148

2ble post, sorry..........


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## NoCoPilot

erki said:


> BTW Out of the samples you picked I find half of them really good actually.


Top half or bottom half?


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## Rogerx

Strange album/CD covers of classical works


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## Skakner

AbsolutelyBaching said:


> Well, he only started posting last May or thereabouts, to fill his pandemic days.
> 
> But given the propensity of people to post in the Current Listening threads "I'm just listening to this boxed set or album" literally just hours after he's posted a video about it/them, it's clear quite a few posters here follow him on Youtube with alacrity (yet never feel the need to bother acknowledging where "their" playing ideas come from).
> 
> Or this thread: what a brilliant idea to post about bad CD covers!!... except that Hurwitz posted a video about it about 14 hours earlier. And used at least three of the same pictures the OP "thought" so egregiously bad. So again, a "borrowed" idea (and some borrowed content!) without a hint of acknowledgement.
> 
> I try to call out the most egregious unacknowledged "borrowings" when I spot them.
> 
> I really don't mind people being inspired one way or another by other people. I am myself frequently pointed in listening directions by Hurwitz. But at least have the decency to admit that you _were_ inspired by someone else, please! It's basic courtesy (and honesty). ("You" used in the general sense of, 'people who borrow Hurwitz's ideas without acknowledgement').


I really don't understand the purpose of this poisonous post.
We all can borrow ideas for threads, sometimes.
Is this something we should be blamed or apologized for?
Is this against the rules of this forum? Last time I checked, it wasn't.
Is it _lack of decency!!!!_ not to "acknowledge" our source of inspiration?

After all, what are you?
Thread Quality judge?
Ethics supervisor?
The Roman Cencor of talkclassical?

Basic courtesy suggests that if you like a Thread, then participate in a constructive way. Being poisonously judgmental is not constructive.


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## BachIsBest

Skakner said:


> I really don't understand the purpose of this poisonous post.
> We all can borrow ideas for threads, sometimes.
> Is this something we should be blamed or apologized for?
> Is this against the rules of this forum? Last time I checked, it wasn't.
> Is it _lack of decency!!!!_ not to "acknowledge" our source of inspiration?
> 
> After all, what are you?
> Thread Quality judge?
> Ethics supervisor?
> The Roman Cencor of talkclassical?
> 
> Basic courtesy suggests that if you like a Thread, then participate in a constructive way. Being poisonously judgmental is not constructive.


I do feel there is a basic ethical obligation of acknowledgement if an idea is not yours.


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## Skakner

BachIsBest said:


> I do feel there is a basic ethical obligation of acknowledgement if an idea is not yours.


I never claimed that the idea was mine. As a matter of fact, I was about to post Hurwitz's video but given that Hurwitz isn't very popular here, I reconsidered. After all, it's not so original idea. There are similar threads years now.

In any case, I think that words like *decency, basic courtesy (and honesty)*, cross the line.


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## Malx

Did Hurwitz acknowledge that he got the idea for his video from previous threads on Talk Classical before making it?

Now I know I have no idea if he is aware of these threads or not, but do we need to ask for acknowledge of every source of inspiration as to why each thread or post is made - I suspect not.
For the record I and I suspect many other posters don't watch Hurwitz on a regular basis so won't be aware of what he is currently posting. I can with honesty say I have no idea what he has posted at all this year.


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## Guest002

Skakner said:


> I really don't understand the purpose of this poisonous post.
> We all can borrow ideas for threads, sometimes.


Of course you can. I already said 'inspiration is a good thing'

But the _honest_ thing and the polite thing to do is to acknowledge when you borrow. Otherwise, it doesn't look quite so much like borrowing as stealing (or, at least and at best, as mindless regurgitation).



Skakner said:


> Is this something we should be blamed or apologized for?


Yes, if you do it deliberately and without attribution.



Skakner said:


> Is this against the rules of this forum? Last time I checked, it wasn't.


It is against the rules of common decency, I would have thought.



Skakner said:


> Is it _lack of decency!!!!_ not to "acknowledge" our source of inspiration?
> 
> After all, what are you?
> Thread Quality judge?
> Ethics supervisor?
> The Roman Cencor of talkclassical?
> 
> Basic courtesy suggests that if you like a Thread, then participate in a constructive way. Being poisonously judgmental is not constructive.


No, I'm not the forum censor or your ethics supervisor. But if you lack ethics, I'll point it out if I feel I have to, because _I_ have some.

You posted after Hurwitz and three of "your" examples were his. If I copied 30% of a Beethoven symphony and passed it off as all my own work, I think it's not just the symphony that would be called a 'phony.

Imagine if your first post when creating this thread had been along the lines of, "David Hurwitz has just published a great video about really bad classical music CD covers. See this link for the details. In the same spirit, I'd like to nominate the following as the worst 7 classical CD covers that I could think of, which he hasn't already mentioned..."

Do you think that's fairer and more honest an approach, generally? I do, and if that's how you'd started your post, I would have said precisely nothing about it.


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## Guest002

Malx said:


> Did Hurwitz acknowledge that he got the idea for his video from previous threads on Talk Classical before making it?


No. And if you can prove he did rip the idea of TalkClassical, rather than -say- this page from Classics.fm, and he created his video without due acknowledgement, then I'll be first in the queue with you to condemn him for creating a rip-off. As I recall, however, the last post in that thread was around August/September? So it's taken four months before his video on the subject just went up. Our OP managed to post 'his' thread in a matter of 12 hours or so after Hurwitz's video went up.

I think arguing that the one case is the same as the other is rather whatabouterish.



Malx said:


> Now I know I have no idea if he is aware of these threads or not, but do we need to ask for acknowledge of every source of inspiration as to why each thread or post is made - I suspect not.


I think if you are "inspired" 12 hours after someone else's video, you're not so much inspired as merely copying.



Malx said:


> For the record I and I suspect many other posters don't watch Hurwitz on a regular basis so won't be aware of what he is currently posting. I can with honesty say I have no idea what he has posted at all this year.


And that's fine and great minds can think alike and coincidences can happen and I'd have no problem with any of that. And it's why when someone recently announced they were listening to Bonynge's Big Box of Ballet, merely a day or two after Hurwitz had reviewed it, I said nothing. Because it _could_ just have been coincidental timing and the particular poster in question has, as far as I'm concerned, a track record of adventurous listening and was always likely to get into that recording sooner or later anyway.

But the OP has flat-out admitted "I never claimed that the idea was mine. As a matter of fact, I was about to post Hurwitz's video...", so we don't have to get into that sort of speculation. He copied, he didn't acknowledge.

For the record, it wasn't one of Hurwitz's finest moments, and I'm not defending him/it because of its towering genius or anything. I thought it was only modestly amusing; it's a theme that's been done to death before in various contexts; and I prefer him when he's coming up with original commentary on music content and context. I defend him as I'd defend anyone whose content and ideas are being ripped off.


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## Malx

AbsolutelyBaching said:


> No. And if you can prove he did and he created his video without due acknowledgement, then I'll be first in the queue with you to condemn him for creating a rip-off. As I recall, however, the last post in that thread was around August/September? So it's taken four months before his video on the subject just went up. Our OP managed to post 'his' thread in a matter of 12 hours or so after Hurwitz's video went up.
> 
> I think arguing that the one case is the same as the other is rather whatabouterish.
> 
> I think if you are "inspired" 12 hours after someone else's video, you're not so much inspired as merely copying.
> 
> And that's fine and great minds can think alike and coincidences can happen and I'd have no problem with any of that. And it's why when someone recently announced they were listening to Bonynge's Big Box of Ballet, merely a day or two after Hurwitz had reviewed it, I said nothing. Because it _could_ just have been coincidental timing and the particular poster in question has, as far as I'm concerned, a track record of adventurous listening and was always likely to get into that recording sooner or later anyway.
> 
> But the OP has flat-out admitted "I never claimed that the idea was mine. As a matter of fact, I was about to post Hurwitz's video...", so we don't have to get into that sort of speculation. He copied, he didn't acknowledge.


Sorry but for me its a lot of fuss about not a great deal - now back to listening :tiphat:


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## Guest002

Malx said:


> Sorry but for me its a lot of fuss about not a great deal - now back to listening :tiphat:


To music that you wouldn't copy and pass off as your own, I assume... 

I think it is a bit hypocritical 'borrowing' ideas from someone quite a few posters here like to slag off as a useless, foolish critic or dismiss as a figure of mere comedy.

We shall have to agree to disagree, basically.


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## Bulldog

AbsolutelyBaching said:


> To music that you wouldn't copy and pass off as your own, I assume...
> 
> I think it is a bit hypocritical 'borrowing' ideas from someone quite a few posters here like to slag off as a useless, foolish critic or dismiss as a figure of mere comedy.
> 
> We shall have to agree to disagree, basically.


And I disagree with you entirely. The subject here is bad looking album covers, one of the most trivial of subjects. Using words such as "decency" is ridiculous. Besides, just about every thread on TC is a borrowing to some extent.


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## Guest002

Bulldog said:


> And I disagree with you entirely. The subject here is bad looking album covers, one of the most trivial of subjects. Using words such as "decency" is ridiculous. Besides, just about every thread on TC is a borrowing to some extent.


And that's a nonsense equivalence.

That we listen to the same sort of music and clearly 'borrow' inspiration for listening is not in question. I'm talking about 'I just watched this video less than 12 hours ago, but I'll post it _as if_ it were my original idea.' It's not in the same league as 'borrowing'.

That you would defend that practice is sad, frankly. From what I've seen of your posts, it's not actually what you would do, either.


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## Skakner

Allegro Con Brio said:


> Check out this thread, a real treasure trove. It's been a great source of entertainment for me every once in a while:lol: Strange album/CD covers of classical works


Great thread indeed!
Some covers are epic!!!
As someone wondered, people got paid for these?




























What could it be this one...???
Part of a lung? epiglottis?


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## Skakner

And the winner is...
I don't believe what my eyes are telling me...


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## fluteman

AbsolutelyBaching said:


> Well, he only started posting last May or thereabouts, to fill his pandemic days.
> 
> But given the propensity of people to post in the Current Listening threads "I'm just listening to this boxed set or album" literally just hours after he's posted a video about it/them, it's clear quite a few posters here follow him on Youtube with alacrity (yet never feel the need to bother acknowledging where "their" playing ideas come from).
> 
> Or this thread: what a brilliant idea to post about bad CD covers!!... except that Hurwitz posted a video about it about 14 hours earlier. And used at least three of the same pictures the OP "thought" so egregiously bad. So again, a "borrowed" idea (and some borrowed content!) without a hint of acknowledgement.
> 
> I try to call out the most egregious unacknowledged "borrowings" when I spot them.
> 
> I really don't mind people being inspired one way or another by other people. I am myself frequently pointed in listening directions by Hurwitz. But at least have the decency to admit that you _were_ inspired by someone else, please! It's basic courtesy (and honesty). ("You" used in the general sense of, 'people who borrow Hurwitz's ideas without acknowledgement').


First, the idea of showing pictures of bad or silly album covers is an old and common one, as a quick google search will confirm, and certainly was not invented by Mr. Hurwitz. I was not even aware of his contribution to the genre, as I do not read his posts or blogs. Perhaps he came up with the idea of doing it for classical album covers, but I wouldn't bet a lot of money on that, either.

Second, my contributions did not come from anyone else. One was a ludicrously bad cover from the 70s I knew of because I own the LP (though I used an online photo rather than taking the trouble of taking a picture of my copy) and the other was a cover of an early 80s LP I new about when it was issued.

This isn't the most profound topic, but I for one am certainly not plagiarizing anyone.


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## Brahmsianhorn




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## Alfacharger

All I can say is YIKES


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## Guest002

fluteman said:


> First, the idea of showing pictures of bad or silly album covers is an old and common one, as a quick google search will confirm, and certainly was not invented by Mr. Hurwitz.


I never said it was invented by him, but it makes no difference! The OP has already told us he watched the video, was going to link to it, and then decided not to. So we know precisely what and where his "inspiration" came from.



fluteman said:


> I was not even aware of his contribution to the genre, as I do not read his posts or blogs.


No, and if the OP had had his way, you would have remained in this state of non-awareness, which is rather the point. He purloined 30% of someone else's content, made no claim to originality, but also made no acknowledgement of his source. The _intent_ was to make you think the OP had come up with this wheeze all by himself.



fluteman said:


> Perhaps he came up with the idea of doing it for classical album covers, but I wouldn't bet a lot of money on that, either.


It really doesn't matter if it's a tired old trope or not. It's more a matter of basic decency: I watched this video less than 12 hours ago, I thought it was a good idea, I wish to add to the idea... that would have been the more upfront approach, I think.



fluteman said:


> Second, my contributions did not come from anyone else.


I'm not aware that I ever suggested they did (and I don't know what contributions you're talking about anyway: in this thread you mean? In that case, definitely no, I've never suggested that. My beef is with the OP suddenly 'coming up with an idea for a thread' that wasn't actually his in the first place, and I have no problem with anyone else posting to it once it's started.)



fluteman said:


> One was a ludicrously bad cover from the 70s I knew of because I own the LP (though I used an online photo rather than taking the trouble of taking a picture of my copy) and the other was a cover of an early 80s LP I new about when it was issued.
> 
> This isn't the most profound topic, but I for one am certainly not plagiarizing anyone.


Again, I've not suggested _anyone_ is plagiarising anybody once we get beyond the initial post in the thread. If you got that impression, I apologise for presumably clumsy phrasing. My issue is with the OP, not anyone else. (Unless other people start "original" new threads less than 12 hours after Hurwitz puts a video up about it. And even then, if they're honest about the source of their inspiration, I've no problem even with that.)


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## Handelian

SONNET CLV said:


> *Horrible album covers*
> 
> Actually ... I think nearly _any_ cover with Karajan on it qualifies as a "horrible album cover". *What is even worse though, generally, is the musical interpretation on the disc inside that cover.*


Funny that the millions who bought his discs disagree with you. But then, I suppose you have higher tastes than the millions.


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## Handelian

MatthewWeflen said:


> The bad HVK covers occurred after his death, in the 90s. DG made some really ill-advised design choices in that time period. The original issue covers were far more tasteful. I have scanned them all for my box set project:
> 
> The Grand Karajan Review Thread


In all fairness there were some shockers when HvK was still around including a series with his wife's artwork on the front. I can remember the comment on the sleeve note for the Schubert Unfinished (which liked the performance): "The sleeve note is entirely about Karajan." There were complaints that DG was focussing too much on the star conductor and not the music. Like most conductors, Karajan's modesty was in fairly short supply.


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## pianozach

Skakner said:


> I never claimed that the idea was mine. As a matter of fact, I was about to post Hurwitz's video but given that Hurwitz isn't very popular here, I reconsidered. After all, it's not so original idea. There are similar threads years now.
> 
> In any case, I think that words like *decency, basic courtesy (and honesty)*, cross the line.


*LOL*

*"I was GONNA, but then I didn't . . . ."*


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## hammeredklavier




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## Skakner

AbsolutelyBaching said:


> My issue is with the OP, not anyone else.


That's obvious! Especially after 1238 words!!! Unbelievable...!!!
Haven't you something better to do in your life than playing Judge in a forum?
I start thinking that you are gonna sue me...


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## Skakner

That's my last post on your ''issue''. I will totally ignore you from now on.


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## Guest002

Skakner said:


> That's obvious! Especially after 1238 words!!! Unbelievable...!!!
> Haven't you something better to do in your life than playing Judge in a forum?
> I start thinking that you are gonna sue me...


No, I just hoped you might be embarrassed enough to apologise, but I see you've just doubled down on it, so, there's not much else I can do, other than point it out again if it ever happens again. Which I hope it won't.

As for the number of words: I could have simply typed "you plagiarise" and do it in two words. But I thought perhaps I'd be subtler. And subtler takes more words. Sorry if it was a struggle for you to get through them all. I won't ask how long it took you to come up with such a precise number. I'm sure you have better things to do than expend effort in that direction, after all...


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## Guest002

Skakner said:


> That's my last post on your ''issue''. I will totally ignore you from now on.


Excellent. And nothing of value was lost thereby.
Just so long as you don't plagiarise in the future and expect to not be called out on it.


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## hammeredklavier

AbsolutelyBaching said:


> But the _honest_ thing and the polite thing to do is to acknowledge when you borrow. Otherwise, it doesn't look quite so much like borrowing as stealing (or, at least and at best, as mindless regurgitation).


always remember, always remember:


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## fluteman

AbsolutelyBaching said:


> I never said it was invented by him, but it makes no difference! The OP has already told us he watched the video, was going to link to it, and then decided not to. So we know precisely what and where his "inspiration" came from.
> 
> No, and if the OP had had his way, you would have remained in this state of non-awareness, which is rather the point. He purloined 30% of someone else's content, made no claim to originality, but also made no acknowledgement of his source. The _intent_ was to make you think the OP had come up with this wheeze all by himself.
> 
> It really doesn't matter if it's a tired old trope or not. It's more a matter of basic decency: I watched this video less than 12 hours ago, I thought it was a good idea, I wish to add to the idea... that would have been the more upfront approach, I think.
> 
> I'm not aware that I ever suggested they did (and I don't know what contributions you're talking about anyway: in this thread you mean? In that case, definitely no, I've never suggested that. My beef is with the OP suddenly 'coming up with an idea for a thread' that wasn't actually his in the first place, and I have no problem with anyone else posting to it once it's started.)
> 
> Again, I've not suggested _anyone_ is plagiarising anybody once we get beyond the initial post in the thread. If you got that impression, I apologise for presumably clumsy phrasing. My issue is with the OP, not anyone else. (Unless other people start "original" new threads less than 12 hours after Hurwitz puts a video up about it. And even then, if they're honest about the source of their inspiration, I've no problem even with that.)


Fine, but part of my point was that Mr. Hurwitz didn't come up with the idea, either. It has long been a very standard thing to post about on the internet. If Hurwitz posted about ranking the Beethoven symphonies in order of preference, and then someone did that here, that might not be very imaginative, but I wouldn't jump on him for not citing Hurwitz. It's just a very standard, generic thing to post about, and many have been posting about it for many years.

I very much appreciate that you may be bored with threads that merely repeat what has been discussed here and elsewhere on the 'net often and extensively. That's why I made sure that my post didn't just repeat something that someone else had said in an earlier similar thread (to my knowledge). Or maybe the whole thing is too silly for you, and I'd completely understand that too. But you could have ignored the thread, or cited Hurwitz yourself, which you did. I've enjoyed your intelligent posts in a number of threads, I'm only saying, let's relax and be cordial, or this will turn into another flame forum, despite the efforts of the moderators.


----------



## SONNET CLV

SONNET CLV said:


> *Horrible album covers*
> 
> Actually ... I think nearly _any_ cover with Karajan on it qualifies as a "horrible album cover". *What is even worse though, generally, is the musical interpretation on the disc inside that cover.*





Handelian said:


> Funny that the millions who bought his discs disagree with you. But then, I suppose you have higher tastes than the millions.


I gave your comment a "Like" vote, primarily because I remain a fan of such writers as Daniil Kharms, Jean Genet, Edward Albee, and Eugène Ionesco ... not that I liken your prose abilities to their particular geniuses. But absurdism has long been a favorite art genre of mine, and so I welcome your remarks.

Of course, I count myself as one of those "millions who bought [Karajan's] discs" but I don't "disagree" with myself. Which makes your comment ... nonsensical? (Too, I was unaware that you had actually polled those "millions" to have knowledge of what their opinions are or are not. For my part, as I remain part of those same "millions", I never received the poll to which you must obviously refer -- or else you're simply being naive, or something more characterful -- and so my opinions are not part of that public debate.)

My second chuckle came at your supposition that I "have higher tastes than the millions". Two issues, double laughter. First, if I am indeed one of those same "millions" then the comment ranks with the nonsense of the previous sentence. Second, my tastes in arts, like yours, like everyone else's on this site and in the world, remain a personal preference that is neither right or wrong, higher or lower. For one on such an art related Forum as this one to propose such an idea of a fellow poster seems, at least to me, idiotic. And, I wonder whom else you suppose to judge on the merits of their artistic tastes (opinions). Has someone made you the official Arbiter of Good Taste? I haven't heard.

I've commented many times on this Forum of my general dislike of Karajan interpretations, which I tend to find bland and homogenous in sound texture, where instruments seem to blend together into a mush. I know some of this "sound" is due to engineering (I admit I never heard Karajan live in concert), but I'm also aware that Karajan officiated over many of his own productions. Still, I go back to reflections decades ago when I began listening to classical recordings on records. I would purchase records, often of music by composers I had never heard of _or_ of works I had never heard before by composers with whom I was familiar, and I liked some of the music and disliked some of the music. It took years for me to realize, as I looked back into my fair sized collection of classical LP records, that so much of the music that I seemed _not_ to cherish were on recordings by one conductor, Herbert von Karajan. When I revisited some of that same music -- which mean purchasing a disc of music which I apparently did not like (be it Bruckner, or Beethoven, or Schubert) on recordings made by other conductors, I began to discover I was hearing it differently, and that pieces I had thought weren't so good were actually wonderful sounding afterall. The bland, monochromatic sound was, to my ears, gone, and vibrant orchestral colors and sharpened instrumental edges were surfacing from the music. I stopped purchasing Karajan albums (for the most part -- occasionally a review by a reviewer I had come to trust would convince me to try one here and there) and thus have fewer in my current collection than I would have had I enjoyed the man's music making. I did purchase the big Karajan box set from Warners, the _Karajan Official Remastered Edition_, consisting of 101 discs, mainly for comparative listening purposes. I haven't found anything in the box set that has become my favored go-to interpretation, yet, but I haven't heard every disc yet, either. Still, my Karajan collection (save for the inclusion of that big 101 disc set) is much smaller than my collection of recordings by Bernstein, Furtwängler, Karel Ančerl, Václav Talich, Celibidache, and Gerard Schwarz, to name just a handful. I occasionally listen to music I don't particulary like, sometimes hoping to finally hear what I may have been missing, often when I add a piece of new gear into my system to see if I might hear the recording differently, and on occasion to compare with something else just to assure myself that the piece I believe sounded so bad actually did so. (There's a certain Iron Maiden record I play every five years or so just to see if it could really be as bad as I remembered it, and thus far, after several such listens -- none of which got me completely through both album sides -- I haven't had my mind changed. And I once played metal-styled lead guitar in a band, though we never covered an Iron Maiden tune. But my realization of Karajan fits in that same experience. And of course there are many who admire Iron Maiden, and Karajan. More power to them. That's their predilection. It's nothing for me to complain about. Or criticize.)

Of course, if you have criticisms concerning an individual's personal tastes in music, perhaps you should just say so rather than present a commentary of absurd gobbledegook. Even if it means I'll miss a laugh or two. (There's always Kharms and Ionesco to return to when I need a good laugh.)

Thanks for reading my posts. I do appreciate the interest.


----------



## Guest002

fluteman said:


> Fine, but part of my point was that Mr. Hurwitz didn't come up with the idea, either. It has long been a very standard thing to post about on the internet.


Of course, and I get that. And if our OP had posted his thread in about 3 or 4 weeks' time, I wouldn't have batted an eyelid about it: it would merely have been an addition to a long line of similar content, as you say. It was the timeline proximity that raised my suspicion that this wasn't just someone trotting out an old trope of their own volition, however -a suspicion swiftly confirmed by the OP himself.



fluteman said:


> If Hurwitz posted about ranking the Beethoven symphonies in order of preference, and then someone did that here, that might not be very imaginative, but I wouldn't jump on him for not citing Hurwitz. It's just a very standard, generic thing to post about, and many have been posting about it for many years.


I might not jump on someone for doing that sort of thing, but I'd still post a link to the video if the chronological proximity was as close as it was in this case.

Look, of course, nothing's really new under the sun, and if we discuss Wagner, or Beethoven, or whatever, we're going to be treading over some well-worn ground. And that's fine: these are complex topics and it doesn't do any harm to warm them up every so often. But this isn't in that league, is it? It's not an attempt at intellectual investigation or elucidation, perhaps inadvertently bringing up subtle points previously made by others. It's someone copying 30% of someone else's work within hours of that other work going online.

It's not original. It's not insightful. It's not anything other than unacknowledged copying of another's idea _at this time_ (and a large chunk of that other person's content, not incidentally).



fluteman said:


> I very much appreciate that you may be bored with threads that merely repeat what has been discussed here and elsewhere on the 'net often and extensively.


It really has _nothing_ to do with boredom. It's irritation at intellectual ripping off, basically. I write open source software; I expect to be acknowledged if it's copied (it's in the license!) Hurwitz puts efforts into his video; he deserves some credit if someone's going to post about it the next day!

It's also something else, though: Hurwitz gets a lot of schtick around here for not being a great critic, or for being overly opinionated, or whatever: lots of posters are very quick to dismiss him. Except that then they start to post music he's just posted about; or, as in this case, practically re-post his video content as original material. There's a whiff of a little hypocrisy about it to me.

In either case, it is certainly not a boredom thing. It is very much an ethics thing, for me anyway.



fluteman said:


> That's why I made sure that my post didn't just repeat something that someone else had said in an earlier similar thread (to my knowledge). Or maybe the whole thing is too silly for you, and I'd completely understand that too. But you could have ignored the thread, or cited Hurwitz yourself, which you did. I've enjoyed your intelligent posts in a number of threads, I'm only saying, let's relax and be cordial, or this will turn into another flame forum, despite the efforts of the moderators.


I could have ignored the thread, that's true. And as I've said, I've ignored posts in the 'Current Listening' threads that suddenly post about (say) Dvorak's piano concerto 24 hours after Hurwitz's video about it goes up. I have been known to just (relatively quietly!) post a link to the Hurwitz video in that case -or simply ignore it altogether if my knowledge of the poster in question is such that I think it could reasonably have been a coincidence.

In this case, I read the original post with care to see if there was the slightest hint of, 'I've seen this written about elsewhere' or something, but not a sausage: it was presented as 'my own original thoughts', shamelessly in my view. And the OP is fairly new and only has a couple of hundred posts to his name. So I thought maybe a little hint might have prompted an acknowledgement of sorts. But clearly my ethical expectations were set a bit high!

My original post tried to politely suggest an ethical, polite and honest approach to these things. All you've got to do is preface your post with, 'Hurwitz's latest video was so funny, I thought I'd elaborate...' and we're done, after all.

Apparently that counts as being "poisonous". And offering criticism of a post is apparently the same thing as setting myself up in "judgement" as "Roman Censor". Well, no, actually, it's neither of those things. I accept other people don't see it as any sort of deal at all, but I do. And I will accordingly react with gentle reminders of what basic civics suggests we should do in such situations. It's not judgemental to be appropriately critical.

Now, the OP has kindly declared his intention to ignore everything else I ever write, so hopefully that will be the end of the matter, at least as far as this thread is concerned.

But, just to re-iterate, you were never in my sights about any repetitions of anything you may or may not have ever committed in this thread or any other. I know of no such repeating; nothing I've said here was ever meant to imply such repetition had ever taken place.


----------



## Guest002

hammeredklavier said:


> always remember, always remember:


It doesn't work when you change 'artists' for 'posters', I'm afraid!


----------



## GucciManeIsTheNewWebern

The part of all this that cracks me up the most is that multiple people had to sit down at a board meeting, talk through the album cover, and probably had to go through a couple different levels of executive sign-offs in the record company before it hit the shelves. And people were just ok with this? Hillarious. 

It bet part of it is just sycophantry. "Sure, looks great boss, let's do it!"


----------



## haziz

Manxfeeder said:


> She's holding up VW hubcaps. Shouldn't this be a cover for something by Vaughan Williams?


It took me a while to figure out the reference to Vaughan Williams (VW!). I can be thick sometimes! :cheers:


----------



## SONNET CLV

Manxfeeder said:


> She's _holding up_ VW hubcaps. Shouldn't this be a cover for something by Vaughan Williams?


Are you suggesting she lower those hubcaps a bit and perhaps show off a tattoo of RVW she has inked on her ... um ... upper thorax area?


----------



## fluteman

haziz said:


> View attachment 148690
> 
> 
> It took me a while to figure out the reference to Vaughan Williams (VW!). I can be thick sometimes! :cheers:


Part of the joke with those intentionally bizarre Westminster Gold covers, in addition to the slightly crude sexual references in many (but not all) of them, is that they have elements that are startlingly out-of-place or irrelevant. Take this one, for example, which is also in my collection (featuring beautiful flute sonatas by C.P.E. Bach brilliantly performed by the great French flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal and his regular partner on the piano and harpsichord, Robert Veyron-Lacroix). Yes, the sexual reference is obvious, but couldn't the joke have been made with a straight and hard flute and a curvy harpsichord rather than a bassoon and a cello? And what's with the cellist's aviator sunglasses? It isn't just a naughty joke, the whole thing is slightly "off".


----------



## hammeredklavier

haziz said:


> It took me a while to figure out the reference to Vaughan Williams (VW!). I can be thick sometimes! :cheers:


----------



## SONNET CLV

fluteman said:


> Part of the joke with those intentionally bizarre Westminster Gold covers, in addition to the slightly crude sexual references in many (but not all) of them, is that they have elements that are startlingly out-of-place or irrelevant. Take this one, for example, which is also in my collection (featuring beautiful flute sonatas by C.P.E. Bach brilliantly performed by the great French flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal and his regular partner on the piano and harpsichord, Robert Veyron-Lacroix). Yes, the sexual reference is obvious, but couldn't the joke have been made with a straight and hard flute and a curvy harpsichord rather than a bassoon and a cello? And what's with the cellist's aviator sunglasses? It isn't just a naughty joke, the whole thing is slightly "off".
> View attachment 148706


Perhaps you prefer this cover-image revision?


----------



## fluteman

Reichstag aus LICHT said:


> I knew the model in that photo. Oddly enough, her name was Flo Scampi.


Ha! Good one. Unless you stole it from David Hurwitz! In which case:


----------



## Reichstag aus LICHT

fluteman said:


> Ha! Good one. Unless you stole it from David Hurwitz! In which case:


All my own work, I assure you


----------



## Elliott Carter

Who thought this was a good idea lol.


----------



## adriesba

I cringe every time I see this cover. Why? Just why???


----------



## SONNET CLV

adriesba said:


> I cringe every time I see this cover. Why? Just why???


This cover presents the great "mystery", such as provoked by religion. The seen and the unseen. Etc. etc.

Perhaps you're appalled that it appears Boulez is giving the finger to religion?

The real question may be: where is his right hand, and what is it doing? (To be obscured by those blurred music stands.)

I've always had great respect for Boulez the conductor. But he remains quite the provocateur, no?


----------



## geralmar

Just plain ugly.


----------



## DLOinQUEENS

Scarlatti's famous roller skate sonata:









And this CD is watching you:


----------



## erki

DLOinQUEENS said:


> Scarlatti's famous roller skate sonata:
> 
> View attachment 152406
> 
> 
> And this CD is watching you:
> 
> View attachment 152407


Both are rather good, thank you.


----------



## hammeredklavier

-not quite "horrible", but still not really "great" either.


----------



## elgar's ghost

geralmar said:


> Just plain ugly.


True, but it was from a poster for one of the films Schnittke composed music for, rather than cpo's own artwork. The film in question was about Grigori Rasputin.


----------



## hammeredklavier

SONNET CLV said:


> This cover presents the great "mystery", such as provoked by religion. The seen and the unseen. Etc. etc.
> Perhaps you're appalled that it appears Boulez is giving the finger to religion?
> The real question may be: where is his right hand, and what is it doing? (To be obscured by those blurred music stands.)
> I've always had great respect for Boulez the conductor. But he remains quite the provocateur, no?


Maybe he should have raised only his middle finger. Modern art promotes that sort of thing.


----------



## Manxfeeder

SONNET CLV said:


> The real question may be: where is his right hand, and what is it doing? (To be obscured by those blurred music stands.)


I don't know about his right hand, but his left hand seems to be making a shadow puppet of a duck.


----------



## fbjim

I actually think that Boulez cover is pretty neat photography.


----------



## hammeredklavier




----------



## Reichstag aus LICHT

Not a bad cover, as such, but way these images are framed had me doing a double-take:

















Purely coincidental, of course, and the DG cover pre-dates the Lanzmann film by many years, but if I see one, I can't help recalling the other.


----------



## geralmar

If those eyes are real...


----------



## RogerWaters




----------



## hammeredklavier

^he looks like Peter Schickele in those


----------



## pianozach

RogerWaters said:


> View attachment 156156
> 
> 
> View attachment 156157
> 
> 
> View attachment 156158
> 
> 
> View attachment 156159


A man who should NOT appear on his own album covers.


----------



## SanAntone

adriesba said:


> I cringe every time I see this cover. Why? Just why???


I remember when I first saw this image I thought my computer was freezing up and it did not completely load.


----------



## Merl

A fine quartet but this cover is just stupid.


----------



## Andrew Kenneth

The most disturbing cd cover I know of is that of a Calliope (Harmonia Mundi) cd containing music by the Monsieur de Saint-George. (also known as "the black Mozart")

The front cover is kinda ok; but for some reason someone thought it appropriate to adorn the back cover with a drawing of young black slaves receiving a brutal whipping on a sugercane plantation.


----------



## elgar's ghost

^
^

Phew...I have no idea what that's all about. Saint-George's father was a planter but I fail to see what message the smaller image is attempting to convey in view of that. Does the sleeve-note small-print give any clue?


----------



## hammeredklavier

Andrew Kenneth said:


> The most disturbing cd cover I know of is that of a Calliope (Harmonia Mundi) cd containing music by the Monsieur de Saint-George. (also known as "the black Mozart")


"The fact that Mozart lived for more than two months under the same roof with Saint-Georges confirms that they knew each other." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevalier_de_Saint-Georges#Operas


----------



## strawa

I always thought that the album cover of the Tilson Thomas conducting Villa Lobos was ironic in the best sense: an american entering wild terrain, perhaps ill-equipped, but with optimism, good intentions and spirit of adventure. He even befriended an _arara_ - and in the back cover he befriended a snake (which is weird since it's a burmese python...). It's a good album, by the way.

Well, this makes me think that many covers, in addition to being deliberately bad to get the attention of outside consumers (Bartoli!), were attempts to make an inside joke to the traditional classical music consumers. Just a "hey, that should be fun, if not, what's the point, right?". Maybe I'm seeing advertisers more well-meaning than they really are, but my point is that a lot of covers, especially older ones, seem to have been more of a wink-wink (the Anna Moffo spaghetti, let's say) than self-importance that is, in essence, vulgarity.

And that brings me to my suggestion. It seems to me that there's a clear intention to excite while giving a tasteful appearance of artistic photo. This is very out of place, especially when we are talking about an artist with the history of Milstein and these concerts.


----------



## Bulldog

strawa said:


> View attachment 156926
> 
> 
> I always thought that the album cover of the Tilson Thomas conducting Villa Lobos was ironic in the best sense: an american entering wild terrain, perhaps ill-equipped, but with optimism, good intentions and spirit of adventure. He even befriended an _arara_ - and in the back cover he befriended a snake (which is weird since it's a burmese python...). It's a good album, by the way.
> 
> Well, this makes me think that many covers, in addition to being deliberately bad to get the attention of outside consumers (Bartoli!), were attempts to make an inside joke to the traditional classical music consumers. Just a "hey, that should be fun, if not, what's the point, right?". Maybe I'm seeing advertisers more well-meaning than they really are, but my point is that a lot of covers, especially older ones, seem to have been more of a wink-wink (the Anna Moffo spaghetti, let's say) than self-importance that is, in essence, vulgarity.
> 
> And that brings me to my suggestion. It seems to me that there's a clear intention to excite while giving a tasteful appearance of artistic photo. This is very out of place, especially when we are talking about an artist with the history of Milstein and these concerts.


It's a nice-looking cover. Maybe Milstein would have liked it also.


----------



## hammeredklavier

strawa said:


> I always thought that the album cover of the Tilson Thomas conducting Villa Lobos was ironic in the best sense: an american entering wild terrain, perhaps ill-equipped, but with optimism, good intentions and spirit of adventure. He even befriended an _arara_ - and in the back cover he befriended a snake (which is weird since it's a burmese python...). It's a good album, by the way.


Yeah. Btw, your avatar's awesome. It could make a good cover for that recording


----------



## Kreisler jr

Urania is a pirate label, there have been some others with gratuitous nude covers . But this one could be a witty allusion to Man Ray's Violon d'Ingres.


----------



## hammeredklavier




----------



## haziz

hammeredklavier said:


>


I actually kind of like the cover. Of course it has little to do with the music unless you think very broadly of the "red planet", but I do like it!


----------



## erki

strawa said:


> View attachment 156926
> 
> 
> .... vulgarity.


I see lots of relevance with particular music and this design sensuality. Beautiful/good nude art is never vulgar - believe me - I know.


----------



## Kreisler jr

As for the Minkowski cover: It struck me for the first time that this is obviously one of Jupiter's lightning bolts as also shown by the colors. Maybe more silly than witty (as is the very nickname "Jupiter") but I do not find it horrible.


----------



## Brahmsianhorn

Who in the world thought this was a good idea?


----------



## Red Terror

erki said:


> I see lots of relevance with particular music and this design sensuality. Beautiful/good nude art is never vulgar - believe me - I know.


It's a good photo but the overall design doesn't work well. Little thought was given to typographic treatment as it doesn't at all complement the photo. Conclusion: good photo selection; bad design.


----------



## Neo Romanza

Red Terror said:


> It's a good photo but the overall design doesn't work well. Little thought was given to typographic treatment as it doesn't at all complement the photo. Conclusion: good photo selection, bad design.


This is true. The text looks like something anyone with an editing program on their computer could've designed.


----------



## Open Book

I assume that's George Szell while conducting and not that he's playing hide and seek. A good photo but a poor design? How could that photo possibly be incorporated into a good album cover?


----------



## haziz

Open Book said:


> I assume that's George Szell while conducting and not that he's playing hide and seek. A good photo but a poor design? How could that photo possibly be incorporated into a good album cover?


Come on. Szell counting to five before conducting Beethoven's fifth. It's perfect!


----------



## Neo Romanza

I've designed better looking covers than a lot of these labels:


----------



## Brahmsianhorn

haziz said:


> Come on. Szell counting to five before conducting Beethoven's fifth. It's perfect!


It's perfect for this thread


----------



## Open Book

Neo Romanza said:


> I've designed better looking covers than a lot of these labels:


Is that cover any more horrible than the story of the opera?


----------



## Neo Romanza

Open Book said:


> Is that cover any more horrible than the story of the opera?


Personally, I've never liked one single story from an opera, so I might not be the best judge.  Also, ballet plots are silly. Just thought I would throw that in there.


----------



## Open Book

Neo Romanza said:


> Personally, I've never liked one single story from an opera, so I might not be the best judge.  Also, ballet plots are silly. Just thought I would throw that in there.


Well, I don't share your opinion on opera librettos. I just meant the Bluebeard story is chilling, not that it is badly done.


----------



## GrosseFugue

What the hell??? Is this a pianist or a mime or the Son of the Joker?


----------



## GrosseFugue

Yes, this might qualify as "bad," but I actually kind of like it! 
Maybe because I heard Beethoven as a kid.


----------



## hammeredklavier

GrosseFugue said:


> I heard Beethoven as a kid.


Your username just reminded me of:


----------



## hammeredklavier




----------



## Neo Romanza

hammeredklavier said:


>


I actually like these.  When I was ripping the Karajan _Ring_ box set to my computer, I used these as the covers.


----------



## Orfeo

^^^
I like these also. They actually fit the cycle to a tee.


----------



## Kreisler jr

I also like the Karajan Ring covers, they are very far from candidates for particularly bad covers, but apparently they didn't have a good idea for Walküre. The other background colors suggest water, forest, fire, all of which fit.


----------



## wkasimer

The covers that irritate me are the ones that make a fine recording look like junk, i.e.















This is actually an excellent selection of very well sung scenes from Tchaikovsky's operas.


----------



## Olias

Fantastic recording, awful cover (what's with the line of ants)?


----------



## 59540

hammeredklavier said:


>


That looks like bad economic numbers.


----------



## Manxfeeder

wkasimer said:


> View attachment 158830


I don't get this one. Wasn't Tchaikovsky gay or something? I'm not sure where a naked woman fits into the Tchaikovsky experience.


----------



## Dimace

Manxfeeder said:


> I don't get this one. Wasn't Tchaikovsky gay or something? I'm not sure where a naked woman fits into the Tchaikovsky experience.


After this he turned straight! :lol: Have a very nice WE, my dearest.


----------



## Open Book

Kreisler jr said:


> I also like the Karajan Ring covers, they are very far from candidates for particularly bad covers, but apparently they didn't have a good idea for Walküre. The other background colors suggest water, forest, fire, all of which fit.


What could black symbolize? Does night figure prominently in the story of the opera?
The green almost looks like the iris of a green eye.


----------



## elgar's ghost

Open Book said:


> What could black symbolize? Does night figure prominently in the story of the opera?
> The green almost looks like the iris of a green eye.


Brünnhilde's impending sleep? The deaths of Siegmund and (later) Sieglinde? But I'm probably overthinking again...


----------



## SixFootScowl

Manxfeeder said:


> I don't get this one. Wasn't Tchaikovsky gay or something? I'm not sure where a naked woman fits into the Tchaikovsky experience.


More for boosting sales than to typify anything about Tchaikovsky.


----------



## gvn

One that will be familiar to many TC members:


----------



## gvn

And talking of unfortunate queens, what's so wrong with the right hand picture on this cover? It _is_ a picture of Mary Stuart, isn't it?









Answer: Yes, it _is_ a picture of Mary Stuart... Queen Mary II of England.


----------



## Malx

gvn said:


> One that will be familiar to many TC members:
> 
> View attachment 158874


Somehow when I look at that cover I think of Terry Gilliam's work with Monty Python!


----------



## Tempesta

Manxfeeder said:


> I don't get this one. Wasn't Tchaikovsky gay or something? I'm not sure where a naked woman fits into the Tchaikovsky experience.


Urinals at a gay cruising spot would've been more appropriate, eh?


----------



## MatthewWeflen

hammeredklavier said:


>


Another vote in favor of these covers. Good graphic design and typography.


----------



## Kreisler jr

The front cover shows Tatyana writing a letter. The back cover shows her on her way to the outdoor sauna. Nothing wrong with that


----------



## Kreisler jr

elgars ghost said:


> Brünnhilde's impending sleep? The deaths of Siegmund and (later) Sieglinde? But I'm probably overthinking again...


I thought of death as well; they couldn't use fire (for the magic fire) and a tree would have been too concrete, not just a pattern. They should have kept the pattern with some texture for the background. Black/grey could have stood for the nightly storm at the beginning. Maybe they even tried but shades of grey didn't look good, so they painted it black.


----------



## Reichstag aus LICHT

Open Book said:


> What could black symbolize?


Hunding? Arguably best sung by a "black-voiced" bass


----------



## gvn

wkasimer said:


> The covers that irritate me are the ones that make a fine recording look like junk.


I have the same problem.









I suppose the plastic cherries would have been cheap enough. (They really _are_ plastic. If you have the set, take it down from your shelves and look at it.) But those shiny half-size waxwork models of Pavarotti and Freni must have cost the earth to manufacture.

Also, the costume designer and hairdresser don't seem to have been on speaking terms with each other. The _former_ chose, from among the immense diversity of costumes current in 19th century Alsace villages, precisely those that would look least effective in a photo. Whereas the _latter_ plainly wasn't thinking of 19th century Alsace at all.


----------



## Yabetz

I haven't read through the whole thread, but --


----------



## 1846

Alfacharger said:


> All I can say is YIKES


Yes, but for Elektra, this works.


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## 1846

Actually, it's all a matter of context. Some of these covers work perfectly well for certain works. Many of these would be wonderful covers for recordings by PDQ Bach. But then others get the context all wrong. Let's face it, this cover for the Solti / Nilsson recording of Salome is a miss on every count. Salome, after all, is a beautiful, 15 year old girl, who should look like ... something other than .... oh, say... the Witch in Hansel and Gretel, or Madame Flora from the Medium. Wait, those characters shouldn't look like this, either. What were they thinking? And I love this recording, Nilsson is my favorite singer, Solti my favorite conductor, why did the cover have to be such a miss?


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## SixFootScowl

Alfacharger said:


> All I can say is YIKES


As much as I like Behrens, they can keep that cover.


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## SixFootScowl




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## pianozach

SixFootScowl said:


>


I have questions . . . .


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## SixFootScowl

pianozach said:


> I have questions . . . .


Oh, I just noticed there is a thorn sticking through his nose! I can only guess he is into some strange artwork and wanted to display some of it intimately.


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## joen_cph

For one thing, it must be Arcimboldo-inspired. Possibly also Ovid, likewise popular in that age, though the content of the recording seems to be religious/mainly religious. Maybe thorns related to the Passion of Christ.


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## elgar's ghost

Brahmsianhorn said:


> Who in the world thought this was a good idea?


If we're talking certain hand gestures perhaps we should be grateful that this isn't a recording of Symphony no.1...


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## SixFootScowl

Brahmsianhorn said:


> Who in the world thought this was a good idea?


I think he threw his hand up as they snapped the photo to say, "It's not about me. It's about Beethoven!"


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## joen_cph

dissident said:


> That looks like bad economic numbers.


Agree, but it's probably thought of as Jupiter's thunderbolt.


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## joen_cph

gvn said:


> One that will be familiar to many TC members:
> 
> View attachment 158874


Ouch, Marie Antoinette, La Reine, with a cut off head.


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## John Zito

Before squinting harder, I thought "why is he wearing pajamas?"


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## Taplow

1846 said:


> Actually, it's all a matter of context. Some of these covers work perfectly well for certain works. Many of these would be wonderful covers for recordings by PDQ Bach. But then others get the context all wrong. Let's face it, this cover for the Solti / Nilsson recording of Salome is a miss on every count. Salome, after all, is a beautiful, 15 year old girl, who should look like ... something other than .... oh, say... the Witch in Hansel and Gretel, or Madame Flora from the Medium. Wait, those characters shouldn't look like this, either. What were they thinking? And I love this recording, Nilsson is my favorite singer, Solti my favorite conductor, why did the cover have to be such a miss?
> 
> View attachment 159234


I actually much prefer this cover to the one I have:


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## hammeredklavier




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## SONNET CLV

Yabetz said:


> I haven't read through the whole thread, but --
> View attachment 159233


Perhaps Wild is subbing for the Phantom of the Opera, and here he is just rowing on towards the piano to get in some Chopin practice. Nothing unusual here at all.


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## Bulldog

hammeredklavier said:


>


It's kind of cute - the passport into Mahler's symphonies.


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## MatthewWeflen

hammeredklavier said:


>


They've been using this "mail" conceit for a while, and I've liked it with other compilations - but this one goes too far with the "FedEx" style label and barcodes. It's too busy and the eye doesn't know where to go. Also, why two "Bernsteins?"


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## MatthewWeflen

John Zito said:


> Before squinting harder, I thought "why is he wearing pajamas?"
> 
> View attachment 159483


This is by far the worst era of Karajan covers. Someone at DG in the 90s and 2000s read the Helvetica memo incorrectly, and assumed that random photos of HVK would be more appealing than artwork. The 60s through the 80s have very few bad covers.


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## John Zito

MatthewWeflen said:


> This is by far the worst era of Karajan covers. Someone at DG in the 90s and 2000s read the Helvetica memo incorrectly, and assumed that random photos of HVK would be more appealing than artwork. The 60s through the 80s have very few bad covers.


The Karajan Gold cover for that Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony is also not excellent. He looks...elfin? Like Peter Pan after he finally got old.









And the recording itself is frightful.


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## SixFootScowl

MatthewWeflen said:


> They've been using this "mail" conceit for a while, and I've liked it with other compilations - but this one goes too far *with the "FedEx" style label and barcodes*. It's too busy and the eye doesn't know where to go. Also, why two "Bernsteins?"


If one is forgetful, some of us older folks perhaps, one might just rip the slipcase to shreds thinking it is a mailing package.


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## Open Book

SixFootScowl said:


> If one is forgetful, some of us older folks perhaps, one might just rip the slipcase to shreds thinking it is a mailing package.


A Mahler mailer.

By the way, I like that there are two separate threads to separate horrible album covers from merely strange album covers.


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## Manxfeeder

John Zito said:


> T He looks...elfin? Like Peter Pan after he finally got old.
> 
> View attachment 159506


Also, he's conducting with his eyes open. What's up with that?


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## Open Book

Manxfeeder said:


> Also, he's conducting with his eyes open. What's up with that?


Good observation, Karajan never does that.


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## MatthewWeflen

Open Book said:


> Good observation, Karajan never does that.


In the 80s, he was shooting a lot of new videos, and kept his eyes open for them because he was told they make the performance more engaging. He also always conducted choral pieces eyes open. https://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/08/arts/music-karajan-on-conducting-we-learn-from-each-other.html


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## RogerWaters

asssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss


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## hammeredklavier




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## pianozach

hammeredklavier said:


>


Funny, but I don't see anything "horrible" about this cover.

I do find it amusing that in spite of the technological juxtaposition of computer screens and a digital keyboard (and the Gold Record on the wall) against the background of Old World furniture and Bach's out, the "modern" technology is already out-of-date: Those appear to be tube video monitors, and we've already all graduated to Flat Screen monitors just twenty years later.


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## hammeredklavier

pianozach said:


> Funny, but I don't see anything "horrible" about this cover.


If the Bach in the image was P.D.Q, it would have been totally fine.


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## hammeredklavier




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## SixFootScowl

hammeredklavier said:


>


Well I guess I have to ask what do you find horrible about it? I like it as the ending of Walkure, a very important part of the Ring, perhaps a pivotal point.

EDIT: Coincidently, the fire music just played on my MP3 player, right after I made this post.


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## vtpoet

I wouldn't at all count this as a horrible album cover. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this was the first of its kind, the first of the many by female violinists that put male violinists out of business.  To me, as far as classical music covers go, it's a classic and, in its small circle, deservedly famous (or infamous as the case may be). (Fulsome, I never know what the hell that word means---it *literally* has opposite meanings.) I don't at all take offense to erotic suggestiveness in classical music. But then I was born without the prude gene. It's just missing. Gone. Scrubbed from my DNA.


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## elgar's ghost

hammeredklavier said:


>


When I saw this the first thing I thought of was the downside of eating Brussels sprout vindaloo.


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## alvaro

A half naked guy on mdma at a rave... of course, that cover screams XV century masses! lol









Bumped into this lately, and i just can't forget


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## elgar's ghost

^
^

I have no idea what the premise is here but I find one or two of the other covers from this series somewhat creepy or repellent.


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## SixFootScowl

elgars ghost said:


> ^
> ^
> 
> I have no idea what the premise is here but I find one or two of the other covers from this series somewhat creepy or repellent.


I would not own the CDs in posts 169 or 171.


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## alvaro

ok, bumped into this one now. I'd really like to know what's up with their designer... is this, like the "style" they look for? wow... just wow. 








I have to admit it. I got really really curious, and went to the label's website. It's not the label. It seems it's the ensemble's that seemingly desires this... aesthetic, for some really unfathomable reason to me. Everyone else at their label has some fairly quiet covers (except ANOTHER ensemble which seems to be of the same "school"), but well, this ensemble really stands out. Check this out:

















At least it got a bit better with the second part of Ockeghem's Masses:









It still follows the "rave" theme, but I think I'm starting to like very much this one.


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## alvaro

And the covers from the other ensemble. It's like they are a bit quieter. Anyways, this cover tells me: "ugh, this music gives me headache".









A couple more covers. Maybe it's a trend? Who knows...

















Also, a cover from the previous ensemble, that seems to sum up both aestethics. 









That's it. I don't know what to make of this surprising display of design.


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## alvaro

Of course! German songs! from the Renaissance... ok...









Yes, bumped into this one too. God bless you Fra Bernardo label and your mighty covers.


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## SixFootScowl

alvaro said:


> ok, bumped into this one now. I'd really like to know what's up with their designer... is this, like the "style" they look for? wow... just wow.


I am quite content not knowing what is up with the designer.:lol:


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## erki

These are just so bad:


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## Rogerx

View attachment 160993

I don´t like this, give me Beauty Farm any day of the week .


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## joen_cph

Rogerx said:


> View attachment 160993
> 
> I don´t like this, give me Beauty Farm any day of the week .


Yes, it's not even chronologically correct
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Xaver_Messerschmidt


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## adriesba

The name Beauty Farm is just hilarious to me.


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## adriesba




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## SixFootScowl




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## SixFootScowl




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## SixFootScowl




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## Roger Knox

Rossini's hitherto unknown duet for bass and dog, a counterpart to the one for two cats.


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## Roger Knox

SixFootScowl said:


>


Ah ... kitsch ... at the edge of sanity ...


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## Dmitriyevich

This whole series of Myto recordings. They look cheap.


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## Roger Knox

erroneus ...........


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## Roger Knox

Dmitriyevich said:


> This whole series of Myto recordings. They look cheap.


... the stark "FBI Most Wanted List"-style font
... the mauve background
... the stock photo

Cheap indeed, especially for such a distinguished cast and production.


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## parlando

SixFootScowl said:


>


Those feet! Yikes!


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## hammeredklavier




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## geralmar

Doesn't make me feel very religious.


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## eljr

adriesba said:


> The name Beauty Farm is just hilarious to me.


Interesting. I find it intriguing. 

Of course I am draw to non conventional everything.


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## eljr

alvaro said:


> ok, bumped into this one now. I'd really like to know what's up with their designer... is this, like the "style" they look for? wow... just wow.
> View attachment 160662
> 
> 
> I have to admit it. I got really really curious, and went to the label's website. It's not the label. It seems it's the ensemble's that seemingly desires this... aesthetic, for some really unfathomable reason to me. Everyone else at their label has some fairly quiet covers (except ANOTHER ensemble which seems to be of the same "school"), but well, this ensemble really stands out. Check this out:
> 
> View attachment 160663
> 
> 
> View attachment 160664
> 
> 
> At least it got a bit better with the second part of Ockeghem's Masses:
> 
> View attachment 160665
> 
> 
> It still follows the "rave" theme, but I think I'm starting to like very much this one.


Seems the album art has done it's job. I love it along with their name. Oh, and the music is divine as well.


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## geralmar

Appropriate or not; I just don't like it.


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## SixFootScowl

Various - Heavy Classix


View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 1992 CD release of "Heavy Classix" on Discogs.




www.discogs.com


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## Monsalvat

I was looking for Markevitch's Brahms symphonies, and was reminded about the mid-fifties pre-stereo Deutsche Grammophon album covers. Here's an example:








I like the font and layout. I don't understand the head cutout, with strange lighting that doesn't match the rest of the design. Or how about:















And one more:









I like everything about these covers _except_ the actual pictures. I even like the basic design scheme, very geometrical and slightly abstracted. But something about the actual execution is a bit off... well I might not call these "horrible" but they are a bit "strange" at least.


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