WE REMEMBER SEPTEMBER 11
August 20, 2011 6 Comments
NY Firemen
It is incredible how certain events in life can put an imprint on the brain so that you can remember them for years to come.
I do remember the moment in WPRB at 10 am, September 11, 2001 when I received a phone call from my wife telling me what was happening.
Since no emergency broadcast system was working and no phone calls went through until her phone call, I had been totally unaware what was happening.
I faced the most difficult moment in my life trying to finish the last hour of my show. It was so ironical that my program was that day titled East Meets West, and intended to promote peace and the mutual understanding of music from different cultures.
It was even more difficult for me since my cousin’s husband worked for Cantor Fitzgerald. Later that day, to my relief, I found out that he was away on a business trip and was not in New York.
Back at home I was not able to do anything. Glued to the the television with tears in my eyes and chills going through my bones, I was overwhelmed with grief and hoping to hear about survivors.
Two days later, during my 5-hour musical tribute to the fallen, I shut the music off in the studio when it was playing because I would have cried on the air.
I selected the saddest and most tragic music I could find to match my feelings, like Giya Kancheli’s “Mourned By the Wind”, Jón Leifs Requiem, Wojciech Kilar’s Requiem Father Kolbe, which I coincidently presented 4 years earlier on my first Classical Discoveries program. I received many phone calls at that time asking about that incredible work.
After that, four special tributes followed with a special 5th anniversary program, totally devoted to works written from 2001 till 2006 in memory of the victims of 9/11.
Kilar - September Symphony
Since the fifth anniversary of 9/11, I have aired many new works written in memory of the victims.
Robert Moran’s Trinity Requiem received its world première broadcast just a couple of weeks ago and written for the famous Trinity Church which survived despite all the collapsed buildings around it.
The idea of a 24-hour 9/11 Marathon came to my head when I started a series of New Music marathons of 21st century music a few years ago.
Elodie Lauten - S.O.S.W.T.C
Originally I intended to invite different people for talk between the music. I later decided that the best way to speak is through the musical language of composers, since each has a personal story behind their music.
This tragedy inspired more composers than any other historical event in our history. Most people on Earth could see the events of that day unfolding in front of their eyes, making it more difficult to forget.
Joseph Schwantner
During the 24 hours of the Marathon you will hear many works submitted by composers specifically for this event. I want to thank Sequenza 21 and International Alliance for Women Composers as well as other websites who supported this call for recordings.
During the marathon there will be some works being broadcast for the first time as well many works presented on my program before such as the September Symphony by Wojciech Kilar that I presented for the first time in June, 2004, Elodie Lauten’s complete electronic work S.O.S.W.T.C., and Stephen Hartke’s Symphony No. 3 just to mention a few as well as an encore presentation of Robert Moran’s Trinity Requiem.
Moran - Trinity Requiem
I know that this event will be a very difficult for me and every one else, but I do not know any other way I could commemorate this tragic happening, but with music.
If you are on Facebook, you can sign on the special Marathon Event Page – WE REMEMBER SEPTEMBER 11
Closer to the Marathon you will find more information on the home page of the Classical Discoveries website.
CLASSICAL DISCOVERIES 24 – HOUR MARATHON
WE REMEMBER SEPTEMBER 11
starts: SATURDAY, September 10, 2011 – 7:00 PM
ends: SUNDAY, September 11, 2011 – 7:00 PM
on WPRB 103.3FM Princeton and on Internet at:
For those who are curious what I did before here is a playlist from the 5th Anniversary broadcast
- ”IN MEMORIUM OF THE VICTIMS OF 9/11”
Margaret Brouwer (USA) – – Lament
Craig Armstrong (USA) – World Trade Center Cello Theme from the Oliver Stone Film “World Trade Center
Robert Sirota (USA) – Triptych
Alla Pavlova (Russia/USA) – “Lullaby for the Twins” from “Old New York Nostalgia”
Charles Camilleri (Malta) – Dirge 11.09.01
Lee McQuillan (USA) – Romanza for Violin and Orchestra, “Into Troubled Times” (A 9/11 Reflection)
Robert Allworth (Australia) – “Saint John Fisher” from “Organ Preludes for Saints and Martyrs”
Stefania De Kenessey (USA) Autumn Elegy
Joseph Schwantner (USA) – September Canticle
Eric Ewazen (USA) – A Hymn for the Lost and the Living
Carl Schroeder (USA) – Christine’s Lullaby
Nancy Bloomer Deussen (USA) – “Et in Terra Pax”
Craig Armstrong – “Elegy” from the Oliver Stone Film, “World Trade Center”
Stephen Chatman (Canada) – Over Thorns to Stars
Carson P. Cooman (USA) – Canticle: Mosaic in Remembrance and Hope
Tyler Goodrich White (USA) – Elegy for the Orphans of Terror
Adolphus Hailstork (USA) – As Falling Leaves
Piotr Grella-Mozejko (Poland/Canada) – Lachrymae (In Memory of September 11, 2001)
Robert Ian Winstin (USA) – September 11, 2001 – 9:05 am
Wojciech Kilar (Poland) – September Symphony
Elodie Lauten (France/USA) – Selections from S.O.S.W.T.C.
Lera Auerbach (Russia) – Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano (Sept. 11)
Stephen Hartke (USA) – Symphony No. 3
Craig Armstrong – “Ethereal” from the Oliver Stone Film, “World Trade Center”
- Playlist from the first memorial on 09/13/2001 – “MUSIC OF MOURNING”
J.S. Bach – “Preludium” from Cello suite in D minor
Heinrich Ignaz Franz Von Biber – Requiem
Charles Camilleri – Requiem
Arnold Rosner – Five Meditations
John Dowland – Flow My Tears
Alan Hovhaness – Psalm and Fugue
Arvo Part – De Profundis
Wojciech Kilar – “Dona nobis pacem” from “Missa pro pace”
A. Scarlatti – Concerto #2 in C minor
D. Scarlatti – Sonata in B minor, L. 33.
Serge Kaufmann – Yiddish Suite
Peteris Vasks – Cantabile
Anon. 15th Century – Prayer
Maurice Durufle – Requiem
Wojciech Kilar – Requiem Father Kolbe
Claudio Monteverdi – Lamento D’Arianna
Vangelis Petsalis – Adagio for Strings
Zbigniew Preisner – “Lacrimosa” from “Requiem for my Friend”
Frantisek Tuma – Stabat Mater
Robert Starer – Elegy for a Woman Who Died Too Young
Giya Kancheli – “Mourned By the Wind”, Liturgy for viola and orchestra
Jon Leifs – Requiem
- Links to other tributes on “Classical Discoveries”
IN MEMORIUM OF THE VICTIMS OF 9/11 – 09-06-2006
WE REMEMBER – 09/11 MEMORIAL – 09-10-2004
MADE IN THE USA – 09/11 MEMORIAL – 09-10-2003
REMEMBERING THE VICTIMS OF TERRORISM AND WAR – 09-11-2002
MUSIC OF MOURNING – 09-13-2001
About marvinrosen
MarvinTheCat 
Hi Marvin,
I too will never forget September 11th either. I was a sophomore at Manhattanville and it was a Tuesday. I remember trying to call my dad (as he works in midtown and moves around the city a lot). The lines were busy until finally I got hold of my mother who said that my father was fine. He was in the office and witnessed the whole entire event from his office window. For the rest of the day till I don’t know what time, our campus was put on lock down – we had to stay on campus. I remember going home weekend and when I came back through the front door of the dormitory that Sunday night I came face to face with our picture of New York City’s twin towers but this time it was like seeing a ghost.
Marvin- Especially for 9/11, I will be listening to Jonathan Elias’ “The Prayer Cycle”. “A choral symphony in nine movements, titled, Mercy, Strength, Hope, Compassion, Grace, Innocence, Forgiveness, Benediction, and Faith. English Chamber Orchestra Lawrence Schwartz conducting.
Here are two customer reviews from Amazon:
“I first heard this as part of a radio program on the local NPR station [probably Music From the Hearts of Space], and was shamed into silence. The diversity of collaborators in this work (including US folk-rocker James Taylor, Yemenite singer Ofra Haza, Canadian rocker Alanis Morissette, the late Musrat Fateh Ali Khan [one of his last performances], the American Boychoir w/Devin Provenzano, the English Chamber Orch. & Chorus) shows the great number of fields that composer Jonathan Elias was drawing from.
The song “Hope” will lift your spirit, while James Taylor’s melancholy vocals on “Grace” will move you to tears (At first, I thought he would be horribly out of place, but his voice fits the work perfectly!). The lyrics run all over the map in language. There are lyrics in Urdu, Mali, Latin, English, French, Italian, Hungarian, Dwala, Tibetan, German, Spanish and Hebrew, but they are listed in English in the CD booklet. I gather this is Elias’ way of uniting the world. The lyrics are prayers, laments and pleas for forgiveness. The themes are loneliness, war and regret.
The style of music is definately classical, but does not limit itself to European roots. There are distinct influences from Africa, the Orient, and even various tribal nuances. For someone who was raised on European Classical music, it may be a shock to the system, but it works, and it is wonderful!
I forsee this recording to be one of the hand-picked few that future generations will draw upon for inspiration. As we as a people on this planet become closer, our world seems to become smaller. Our hopes, dreams, and cultures begin to overlap. This recording is proof that, when skillfully co-ordinated they can create incredible harmony.
Highly, highly reccomended.”
“There is music you hear, music you listen to, and music that truly fills and feeds your soul. If you are not moved in the first 60 seconds of Elias’ powerful tribute to prayer and artistry, you need this recording more than you think. This CD contains much of what there is to love about music…rich choral backgrounds filled with suspensions that compliment the beautiful,primitive and raw voices of Morissette and Musrat Fateh Ali Kahn which are filled with pure emotion… classical guitar that accompanies the gifted and melancholy James Taylor…sweeping lines of gorgeous, soulful, skillfully constructed music. Elias says that prayer is what we turn to when all we have left is hope. I turn to his music, and pray that he has more still to come.”
Hi Richard,
The Prayer Cycle is a wonderful work and have aired some of it in the past. Unfortunately, it dates from 1999. My whole marathon, as you probably saw, will be devoted to works in response to the 9/11 events meaning that they will all date from after the attacks. Thanks however for your suggestion.
Hey! I am looking forward to it. You will curate a great 24 hours.
Thanks Richard! Looking forward to it myself!
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