Catch the Wind - by Donovan
My sister sent me this song (I'd never heard it before) in the midst of a terrible personal loss in 2006. My brother-in-law was murdered in an act of random violence in the Bronx. I must have listened to this song a thousand times on my ipod riding the subway from the Bx to my job in midtown Manhattan over the following 6 months. The song held my hand, gave me empathy, tried to explain the unexplainable, evoked tears upon tears, and will forever be tied to NYC - and that incredible loss - for me. On 9-10-01 I reported for day 1 of jury duty in downtown Manhattan. At the end of that Monday, they told half of us we wouldn't have to return - luckily I was among those who weren't right there that next fatal morning. That said, I experienced 9/11 much like millions of others NYers - first-hand, terrified, walking and walking and walking, helplessly trying to give blood, traipsing through the ashen streets blearily staring at heartbreaking LOST signs, covering my lungs from the smell, and desperately trying to find out (and then live with) what had happened. This song, for me, is NYC, is loss, is love, is the enduring spirit, and the inevitable pain of trying to catch the wind.
Kate Barber Schultz
The Boxer by Simon & Garfunkle
I am a psychology professor (Columbia University) and was involved in a number of research studies on the psychological reactions of New Yorkers to and in the aftermath of 911. My research attests to the undeniable resilience of New Yorkers but of humans in general. Although the Boxer is an old song for me it captures that resilience and contextualizes it in the grittiness of New York and the dogged perseverance of its populace. Paul Simon sung the Boxer on Saturday Night Live to open the first of their show's broadcast after 9/11. He sung the song under stark lighting from above with a group of silent fire-fighters. Very moving.
George Bonanno
Lux aeterna by David Adam Smith
I performed this piece on the first anniversary of 9/11 with the choir at St. John's Episcopal Church in Larchmont.
Both the choir and the congregation were
deeply moved by the work.
Paul-Martin Maki
lux aeterna
comemmorates memory of those who died in a very somber / religious manner
W. Shields
Three minutes of silence
One minute of silence for each 1,000 victims is a simple symbolic gesture of respect and remembrance. I watched from Pine Street as the second plane hit 2 World Trade Center where I had my office on the 105th floor for many years prior to 2001. Had I remained there, I would have been one of the 3,000. Three minutes of silence offers an opportunity for listeners to pause and reflect on "for the grace of God go I."
Steven Dhondt
Mahler - Symphony #2
Listening to this symphony you can only think where and how the Mahler conceive this masterpiece. It brings both fear and hope to all who really listen to the music. Sublime.
Noemi Robbins
Mahler's Resurrection symphony
I listened to this a lot in the weeks after 9/11, when it was hard to get out of bed in the morning.
Aaron Elstein
Barber: Adagio for strings
The Adagio represents the deep sadness felt that day, but not morbidly. There is emotionality and an acceptance of finality.
Dr. Vincent J. Rufino
Interpol — "NYC"
The song's combination of melancholy and optimism embodied the experience of post-9/11 New York — for me, anyway. The chorus, "It's up to me now, turn on the bright lights" applied so well to pulling ourselves out of the grief and horror and getting on with life again. And the combination of the lines "Subway is a porno/ The pavements they are a mess" and yet "New York cares" says it all about living in this city.
Michael Azerrad
Beethoven's 7th Symphony, Second Movement (Allegretto)
I have heard this piece at grand occasions before - it was part of the concert Daniel Barenboim conducted when the Berlin Wall fell. Most recently, it was featured in "The King's Speech" to great effect.
It has a great way of setting up an important, dramatic event, and then dissolving it into something lighter.
Mathias
Lux Aeterna by David Adam Smith
I'm a church music director and performed this piece with my choir on the first anniversary of 9/11. It's a wonderful piece by a NYC composer.
John Karl Hirten
"Lux Aeterna" by David Adam Smith
On the first anniversary of September 11th at a church in the Village, I heard the first performance of this beautiful choral setting of the Latin text. The words are so soothing, so forgiving and set to this beautiful music, it was a very healing experience.
Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine...
...
Requiem aeternum dona eis, Domine,
et Lux perpetua luceat eis...
Let eternal light shine on them, Lord...
...
Grant them eternal rest, Lord,
and let perpetual light shine on them...
Martin Dooley
Lux Aeterna by David Adam Smith
Lux Aeterna Written by a David Adam Smith would be a great piece to be played on the anniversity of 9/11. It is very moving and will help us think of the lives lost on that day.
Brittany Sara Ng
David Adam Smith's Lux Aeterna
This beautiful piece was written for the first anniversary of 9/11 by a composer who lives in Park Slope. It's a wonderful work that deserves to be widely heard on this 10th anniversity of 9/11.
Danielle Ng
Lux Aeterna
This music was composed by David Adam Smith for a Requiem Mass (for deceased) for All Souls' Days at the Church of the Holy Innocents in midtown in 2009.
Lux Aeterna is a very moving piece of music written to inspire the living to remember the dead and to pray for them. So, this piece seems perfect for the 9/11 memorial.
It will also appeal to people who have a preference for classical music, not only in NYC, but all over the nation and maybe even in other countries, since the effects of 9/11 were not limited only to the USA.
Here's a link to the piece: http://music.dierschow.com/2008Colloquium/21NewComp/Smith%20Lux%20aeterna.mp3
Thank you.
Eddy Toribio
Lux Aeterna
Lux Aeterna by David Adam Smith was written for the first anniversary of 9/11.
I heard it when it was sung at Holy Innocents on All Souls Day in 2009 and would like to hear it again.
Thank you!
Pamela Bloomfield
Barber's Adagio for Strings
As an organist, I played an arrangement of Barber's Adagio for a funeral Mass for one of the people killed on 9/11. I've never known such intense listening, or holding onto every note. It was as though this one performance, this one piece would see them through this terrible tragedy.
I choose it because I wanted American music to lend support as well as meaning to what had happened. I wanted everyone to known that American composers were capable of writing such music.
David Adam Smtih
Lux Aeterna by David Adam Smith
I heard this piece during an all souls day mass, it was very touching. I could feel the spirits of friends lost, especially the several lost on 9/11.
Dorothy Regan
David Adam Smith's Lux Aeterna
The piece was written for the first anniversary of 9/11 by a composer who lives in Park Slope. It's a wonderful work that deserves to be widely heard. 9/11 changed our world, but no one who didn't live in New York at the time can really understand what it was like to be here then. David was here.
Joy Holland
Lux Aeterna by David Adam Smith
This choral piece was written by a composer in Park Slope for the First Anniversary of September 11th. It struck him that so many speeches and events were being prepared for the anniversary, but it is music that is most expressive, so he wrote this to the text of Lux Aeterna from the Requiem Mass. Every time I hear it performed, I am stuck by the great the beauty of this piece. It was sung at the Music Sacra Colloquium in 2008 and the singers gave it a standing ovation.
Susan Shields
