# Cover art



## Markbridge (Sep 28, 2014)

I mentioned in a post regarding Sibelius how album cover art affects our impressions of the music inside, for good or bad, and thought that would make an interesting topic for discussion discussion. So I'll start, here is a album cover that I think is very good and one that fails:

One cover art that I have loved since I first bought it on open reel tape in the mid 1970s is Levine's recording of Mahler 3rd symphony. I've always wished RCA had issued a print of the cover so that it could be framed:










And the cover art that missed by a mile is the art used on Zinman's Mahler cycle. This is just one example. What on earth does this have to do with Mahler's 5th symphony!? Sadly, this is the case with all of the symphonies. 










And this is just Mahler! I'm sure I can find examples of good cover art and bad cover for just about every major composer in my collection. But this is a good place to start.

Anyone else have a album cover you particularly think is good at representing the music?


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## Markbridge (Sep 28, 2014)

Sorry for dominating this, but I remembered two more album covers that I think do an excellent job of describing what the music is about:


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## KevinJS (Sep 24, 2021)

What about this one? Doesn't need much imagination.









Fully agree with you concerning the Zinman/Mahler recordings.


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## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

I don't think much thought was put into some of these album covers. Maybe deadlines were tight.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)




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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Album cover art has definitely come a long way since the mid-1960s, although there were some decent album covers produce prior to that.

Once Pop music raised the bar in the mid-60s, Classical Music caught up pretty quickly. 

Still, there's been some truly awful album covers released in both Classical and Pop since then.


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## 4chamberedklavier (12 mo ago)

Markbridge said:


> What on earth does this have to do with Mahler's 5th symphony!? Sadly, this is the case with all of the symphonies.


















The guy in the painting looks pretty _Mahlerian_ to me 😜


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## Malx (Jun 18, 2017)

Markbridge said:


> Sorry for dominating this, but I remembered two more album covers that I think do an excellent job of describing what the music is about:
> 
> View attachment 167033
> 
> View attachment 167034


I wasn't aware that Mendelssohn wrote a 'Whisky' Symphony - tut tut sack those Columbia marketing bods


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

4chamberedklavier said:


> View attachment 167041
> View attachment 167042
> 
> The guy in the painting looks pretty _Mahlerian_ to me 😜


It's not Egon Schiele, is it?


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## Subutai (Feb 28, 2021)

Here's one that stands out for me. A None so Black performance.


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

I'd probably buy a poster of the Sendak cover for Mahler's 3rd. But I never saw a decent offer for this. (My brother used to be a huge fan of "Where the Wild Things are" and I eventually got him a great print with en enlarged version of the double page where the wild things are frolicking in the trees.) 

The CD format was a pretty bad development for cover art. Just too small. I think a compromise with the cover size of the 7" vinyl disc would still have made nice covers possible.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

elgars ghost said:


> It's not Egon Schiele, is it?


My first thought as well, although I soon realized it is not wild enough for Schiele. It is actually a painting by Ferdinand Hodler.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

I love this cover, clear in all its simplicity.


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## OCEANE (10 mo ago)

I'm reluctant to post this but just share as this cover has been in mind for so long --"a really poor design for my beloved music as well as musician". I think it is a substandard design of harmonia mundi.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I quite like this. It's a simple fly-on-the-wall shot but when you listen to the 
results you then know that the photo was taken while great music was being 
made, even if the photo is from a rehearsal rather than the actual recording.


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## Monsalvat (11 mo ago)

Benjamin Britten: _War Requiem_
John Culshaw told the story of this album cover in his posthumously published memoir, _Putting the Record Straight_. My recollection is that Decca's graphic design team came up with some truly awful ideas and Culshaw eventually decided to mimic the cover of the Boosey & Hawkes score. Even though there is no picture, the white-on-black text would stand out in a record shop, and it really isn't inappropriate for this particular record. It's different from the other ideas in this thread.









Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 5, 6
Herbert von Karajan: Berliner Philharmoniker (1977)
This album cover isn't horrible to look at but it isn't informative, either, aside from the printed text. 

And two Haydn covers that are very different (Karajan and Szell):








Karajan's Haydn recordings all featured these silhouettes on the cover.








I don't even know what they were trying to convey here. It's fun to look at but a bit ridiculous.


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## RobertJTh (Sep 19, 2021)

I remember buying this box set just because it looked so pretty.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

RobertJTh said:


> I remember buying this box set just because it looked so pretty.


That's pretty much how I ended up with this one too.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

Monsalvat said:


> Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 5, 6
> Herbert von Karajan: Berliner Philharmoniker (1977)
> This album cover isn't horrible to look at but it isn't informative, either, aside from the printed text.


It's a cool optical illusion on the "6" though.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Art Rock said:


> My first thought as well, although I soon realized it is not wild enough for Schiele. It is actually a painting by Ferdinand Hodler.


Hmm...I think I prefer it when record companies use Klimt's artwork for Mahler album covers (which they often have been known to do) - at least he was an Austrian contemporary.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)




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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

These are some of my favorites:









I think this one captures the mood of the pieces well, and I like the ink/paint combo. This one is from a similar time frame:









This one is a but more like a collage:









This one is a beautiful photograph:










Then a more 80s' style art piece:


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Another one of my favourites .


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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

I like cover art of the composer and the performer together. It gives a feeling of intimate and live atmosphere of music creation.


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## OCEANE (10 mo ago)

It's Mahler No. 6.....and its cover makes me look twice and more.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Moved this to the Off-Topic Pub, as the discussion is not about music, but about covers. This is in line with existing threads about album covers.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Tbh, I'm not really that bothered by cover art that is striking or unique because at least it makes a release stand out. I think what Kreisler touched on is that covers are more immaterial these days (sadly). In the days of the old LP their was no getting away from it and a cover could make or break a release. In these days of digital ownership of music many people don't even know what the cover looks like. As mentioned, the smaller format of CD diminished the covers too. I'm fairly happy with the cover art of many classical releases but admit to getting a bit bored with scenic paintings of the rambling English countryside. Amongst the album covers I really liked were the Honeck/Mahler/Exton releases (the use of contrasting and complementary vibrant colours) but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and Im guessing that some people hated those covers as much as I loved them. Incidentally I have the Mahler/Zinman set and really don't mind the cover art at all and particularly like the cartoon caricatures of Mahler in the inserts. Sometimes covers aren't meant to represent the music, they're simply meant to stand out.


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

Art Rock said:


> Moved this to the Off-Topic Pub, as the discussion is not about music, but about covers. This is in line with existing threads about album covers.


I think this is a shame. People enjoy it and are being civil, but relegating it to Off Topic means it's effectively killed as a thread.


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## Bernamej (Feb 24, 2014)

Sadly, I think this one missed the target.


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## Bernamej (Feb 24, 2014)

Monsalvat said:


> Benjamin Britten: _War Requiem_
> John Culshaw told the story of this album cover in his posthumously published memoir, _Putting the Record Straight_. My recollection is that Decca's graphic design team came up with some truly awful ideas and Culshaw eventually decided to mimic the cover of the Boosey & Hawkes score. Even though there is no picture, the white-on-black text would stand out in a record shop, and it really isn't inappropriate for this particular record. It's different from the other ideas in this thread.
> 
> 
> ...


OMG you gave me some good laughs there !!!


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## Monsalvat (11 mo ago)

Bernamej said:


> OMG you gave me some good laughs there !!!


Here's one just for you:


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## sAmUiLc (9 mo ago)

In my collection, there are about 3,300 commercial CDs (I probably bought close to 10,000 though, many were given away or sold at the used CD stores, but I kept the ones I liked). I will admit I bought and kept two (1 in classical, 1 in pops) just for the cover. I've found no interest in their content.








I tried to like the music in it several times in vain.









I actually listened to the Lisa Loeb CD in its entirety only once, even that after many years since acquiring it. And I hated it.


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## jambo (Sep 17, 2020)

André Previn has a couple of my favourite classical covers:


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## Bernamej (Feb 24, 2014)

Monsalvat said:


> Here's one just for you:


Haha, actually it’s funnier when they don’t intend to be funny and when the work is supposed to be “serious” classical music.


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## Jay (Jul 21, 2014)




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## Skakner (Oct 8, 2020)

Bernamej said:


> View attachment 167189
> 
> Sadly, I think this one missed the target.


This cover art is an absolute deal breaker no matter how good is the recording.


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## Bernamej (Feb 24, 2014)

Skakner said:


> This cover art is an absolute deal breaker no matter how good is the recording.


Absolutely. This is not a “bold” move, it’s a commercial suicide mission to have chosen that, notwithstanding the objective abjection of it.


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## Markbridge (Sep 28, 2014)

Monsalvat said:


> I don't even know what they were trying to convey here. It's fun to look at but a bit ridiculous.


I agree. I have this also and was looking at it the other day scratching my head. On the other hand, I thought this 1957 issue with Szell was very good. It's probably the best picture I've seen of Szell:


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## Markbridge (Sep 28, 2014)

Subutai said:


> Here's one that stands out for me. A None so Black performance.
> View attachment 167059


I like the picture. Love the black & white and use of shading. Black & white photography can sometimes be more interesting than color. There are two covers from the '60s (both Mahler, interesting enough) that I have always thought were outstanding. Perhaps taken by the same photographer?


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Two of my favourite Mahler covers:


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## Markbridge (Sep 28, 2014)

Malx said:


> I wasn't aware that Mendelssohn wrote a 'Whisky' Symphony - tut tut sack those Columbia marketing bods


You know, in all these years I never noticed they called the 3rd the "Scotch" Symphony, I simply saw what I thought it should say. Unbelievable. 

It's funny, Columbia used the same picture for Nelson Friere's recording of Tchaikovsky's 1st piano concerto (with Kempe and the Munich Philharmonic). (Someone must have like it)


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## Markbridge (Sep 28, 2014)

Art Rock said:


> Two of my favourite Mahler covers:


Agree!


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## Markbridge (Sep 28, 2014)

4chamberedklavier said:


> View attachment 167041
> View attachment 167042
> 
> The guy in the painting looks pretty _Mahlerian_ to me 😜


This guy can't be Mahler, Mahler was Jewish and this guy certainly isn't.

Ha, ha, made ya look!


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## Dmitriyevich (Dec 3, 2021)

Markbridge said:


> I like the picture. Love the black & white and use of shading. Black & white photography can sometimes be more interesting than color. There are two covers from the '60s (both Mahler, interesting enough) that I have always thought were outstanding. Perhaps taken by the same photographer?
> 
> View attachment 167330
> View attachment 167331


Stokowski's iconic black & white cover:


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## Dmitriyevich (Dec 3, 2021)

The photographer captured the moment when Claudio seemed to be checking Martha's legs...


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## OCEANE (10 mo ago)

Art Rock said:


> Two of my favourite Mahler covers:


Art Rock, do you know what it is in the second cover? It's not just a painting.


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## OCEANE (10 mo ago)

We've seen many covers with Beethoven's statue while this cover for his Symphony No. 5 really shows the power, not just his music but Beethoven as a human being.


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## Chibi Ubu (11 mo ago)

Here are some examples of bad cover art:



They all say "CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP"


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## pmsummer (Oct 24, 2014)




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## pmsummer (Oct 24, 2014)

Rogerx said:


> I love this cover, clear in all its simplicity.


I'm not sure which came first.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

OCEANE said:


> Art Rock, do you know what it is in the second cover? It's not just a painting.


Not sure. Could be a candle (?) but I actually lean towards the idea that it is a painting, but on a scroll.


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## OCEANE (10 mo ago)

Art Rock said:


> Not sure. Could be a candle (?) but I actually lean towards the idea that it is a painting, but on a scroll.


It's stone seal.



stone seal - Google Search


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## Chibi Ubu (11 mo ago)

This one caught my eye as a teen:


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Good perspective.


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## prlj (10 mo ago)

I always loved the Mahler/Boulez artwork.


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## prlj (10 mo ago)

The Haydn 2032 series on Alpha is killing it, too. Love these.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

I like this one very much .


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## prlj (10 mo ago)

I've also been loving what Pentatone has been doing lately...


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## Montarsolo (5 mo ago)

One of my favorites:


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