# great album cover art?



## mwhoyle (Mar 7, 2010)

Hello,

Yesterday I was scanning through Amazon's classical offerings and I just began to notice how much great cover art Telarc seemed to have on so many of their past releases. Specifically, the Cincinnati Pops releases almost always had some unique graphic art. For example:

<http://www.amazon.com/Grof%C3%A9-Canyon-Gershwin-Symphonic-Catfish/dp/B000003CT1/ref=reg_hu-wl_item-added>

Anyone else have a favorite cover? (Telarc or otherwise?)

Thanks for reading,
Matt Hoyle


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## mwhoyle (Mar 7, 2010)

Let me try that again:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/B000003CT1/ref=cm_ciu_pdp_images_0?ie=UTF8&index=0


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I think there was another album cover thread, but what the heck?

My favorite album covers are non-classical. The covers of progressive rock albums were a genre unto themselves and much has been written about them, but that is really a different topic.

For classical I prefer artwork. I don't really want to see the conductor's mug shot. The Naxos covers are pleasing to me because of their consistency. It's the same basic design they've been using for years and years: a nice piece of artwork, not necessarily having anything to do with the music, surrounded by white with non-intrusive text.




























etc.

There is something pleasant about a consistent formula.


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## TWhite (Feb 23, 2010)

Can't reproduce it, but the very strange 'collage' cover art of the original Ormandy recording of "Carmina Burana" in the early 1960's intrigued me so much I bought the recording--and I'd never heard the piece. 

I don't know what blew me away more, the music or the 'collage', LOL!

Tom


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## Gangsta Tweety Bird (Jan 25, 2009)

funny, i think telarc has some of the worst album covers in classical music, especially their typography which is sometimes really tasteless. their ugly yellow logo makes it even worse, which is weird cuz dg and hänssler's yellow logos usually aren't bad. a label with much greater success in a style similar to telarcs (mixed typeface, corner logo, full cover artwork) is hyperion, even though theyve had their share of missteps and it seems theyve let the quality slip a bit in recent years. here are a few examples




























i also like the labels like old bis and wergo, alpha and even naxos (didnt care for them at first but they grow on you especially when you can look at a pile of em all together)


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

http://www.talkclassical.com/4068-great-classical-album-covers.html


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Aramis said:


> http://www.talkclassical.com/4068-great-classical-album-covers.html


I think this thread has a difference, though, being exclusively about the art, as opposed to the one you've brought to our attention, which is the general cover (not necessarily the art)...

Anyway, I vote for all the Boulez/Mahler releases except for the 2nd, 3rd, and 8th symphonies, as well as the lied. Hooray for modernist art!


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## Il Seraglio (Sep 14, 2009)




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## Il Seraglio (Sep 14, 2009)

This album cover is very ironic New York for music written by er... Palestrina.


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## Il Seraglio (Sep 14, 2009)

Do you think there is often a good chance that you'll get a great performance from an album with great cover art? This would be an example of a performance I'm very fond of.










...and this is on my radar


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

I'm rather fond of the Virgin Classics covers that adopt the style shared by the following three, which are some of my favourites:

View attachment 928
View attachment 929
View attachment 927


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## Il Seraglio (Sep 14, 2009)

This would be an example of cover art that put me off buying an album that, previously, I really wanted. I know it's unfair to judge a book by its cover, but... seriously...


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## SPR (Nov 12, 2008)

I almost didnt post this, but I figured... why not.










The vocal music on this is really as sumptuous and lush as the cover suggests.


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## mwhoyle (Mar 7, 2010)

I guess I just really enjoy the graphic art on some of the Telarc covers. (something I've been interested in since I rode Amtrak last summer and saw some the cool art on their posters:

http://www.michaelschwab.com/store/store_amt001.html


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

The John Eliot Gardiner Bach Cantatas series are magnificently packaged... inside and out:


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)




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