primephonic: classical music in the digital age

primephonic
It was a spring day, the sun was shining in a provincial wooded neighbourhood in
the Netherlands and I had something important to talk about – the colour brown
– with Joost De Boo, PENTATONE’s art director. He shed some light on album
artwork in classical music, voicing his frustration with the colour brown as the
norm, and his drive to breathe fresh air into the creation of album art.
Album art in classical music has tended towards safe colours and soft tones. If a
picture speaks a thousand words, then it’s up to designers of album art to help
disrupt the general standards in the classical music industry. There has been a renaissance
in opera, set design and costume design. Album art can have one too!
WORDS RACHEL DELOUGHRY
the
brown
album
Classical music has been trying to
shake off its old, dusty and antiquated
vibe and Joost voiced what
many people have been thinking.
Although this stuffy, old-fashioned
reputation interestingly impacts visual
arts and public opinion of classical
music, the music itself is often
unrecognisable from its packaging.
“The cover of a particular Liszt
album was brown and olive green. I
listened to the album and it was very
energetic. But on a basic emotional
level, there was no connection
between the music and the colours
brown and olive green. In the bigger
picture of what the graphic designer
has done, though, it all comes down
to brown.”
This led Joost to make a sample
colour palette based on the top 50
albums in the classical charts. The
consensus was that the average
colours were brown, beige and grey.
Brown album art, low contrast and
old paintings are standard. “The
elements tended to be dark concert
halls or old churches, backgrounds
that are white, grey or brick, white
people (in suits!) and wooden instruments.
It all makes sense. But why
use that? And why use old paintings?
Why not create something new,
something fresh?”
This doesn’t mean designers have
to remove themselves from tradition
entirely, in fact Joost likes to
incorporate clichés in a playful and
unexpected way, hinting at a tradition
but letting the observer fill the
gaps. “I like to play with the obvious.
So on a cover for Beethoven’s
Missa Solemnis I wanted to use the
famous Beethoven image, but only