primephonic: classical music in the digital age

Joost had a prime example about
how he ‘just got on with it’ and
not only avoided the usual pitfalls,
but made a visual narrative around
the sonic traits of the album. “I’m
currently making a cover for Julia
Fisher’s vinyl of Bach’s Sonatas and
Partitas for solo violin where I only
used bronze ink. The delicately ex-
title goes here
parts of it. I chose this specific painting
because it is the most famous
and recognizable image of Beethoven.
However, not many people
know that Beethoven is holding the
Missa Solemnis score in his hand.
Therefore, I thought it would be
interesting to play with expectations.
I believe that the person who buys
this album is already a Beethoven
fan (because it is not a mainstream
work) so they would immediately
recognize the painting and the
missing element and appreciate the
cryptic approach.”
“That’s what I did with the Wagner
Ring box set cover too: on the
cover, it doesn’t actually say “Der
Ring des Nibelungen”. The words are
cut off. Even with titles you can play
around. By seeing the name Wagner
and most of the letters of the title,
you already know what it’s going to
be. It’s been recorded hundreds of
times, so why use the same approach
again?”
Album art is very much intertwined
with concerns in the age of reproducible
art. “Absolutely. Walter Benjamin’s
The Work of Art in the Age of
Mechanical Reproduction deals with
exactly this! When you have a piece
of art, reproduce it and put it in a
new context, its meaning changes.
‘why use old
paintings?
why not
create something
new,
something
fresh?’
And the meaning of the original also
changes because it’s not unique or
authentic any more. Why for example
produce an album of Bach’s St.
John Passion with an album cover
of a church? Yes, this was originally
a piece you could only hear performed
in a church around Easter
and what’s more, you could only go
there and listen if you were Christian.
Now, you can listen to it with
your headphones, you can read the
Koran at the same time, you can do
whatever you like. So the piece does
not have the same aura. Its original
aura is gone. We should still be aware
of the original meaning and stay
close to the original, but look for abstract
meaning within it. And if you
put an image of the Koran instead
of a church on the cover, then it
becomes even more about religion.
You should be aware of the fact that
it’s no longer the 18th century but a
lot of labels and artists behave as if it
still is. Thinking like this can harm the
genre!”
There is a huge opportunity for
photographers in the transition
away from brown! After all, the
graphic designer’s ingenuity usually
only comes into play at the end of
the process and therefore they have
to work with what ends up on their
plate. Collaborating with visionary
photographers will surely bring out
the quirks and the extraordinary
compelling beauty that seems to
be falling into the brown, murky
abyss. “The featured artists are
photographed in old buildings, so I
have to make something out of that.
It already starts in the conversation
between the recording artist and
photographer. We should collaborate
with photographers that are
more involved in contemporary art
instead of using the status quo photographers.
We can make a bridge
there, because this is something
you cannot influence as a graphic
designer. If not then you just get on
with it.”
31