9/11 theme music
 

As I go through my collection of instrumental/orchestral mp3s I can't help but draw connections to 9/11.

One such piece is Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings. It's just hauntingly sorrowful and it really draws that emotion out of you.

Then I go further and listen to Mars from the Planets suite. Mars is the god of war and the piece fits it right. When I listened to that I had the image of our armed forces opening a can of whoop ass and laying down the nation's wrath on those terrorists.

Right now I'm on some Aaron Copland who is truly our American equivalent of Bach and Beethoven. He wrote music that reflected American ideals and aspirations.

Now for modern music there's nothing like Slipknot and hard metal to get the anger flowing.

Counties all over the world are playing mozartz's requiem. Aterum. Donna eis dominae. Et lux perpetua luciet. Kyrei Elsion. Christi Elsion. Kyerie Elision. Dies Irae. Dies Illa. something something Exfavilla.

I like Alan Jackson's "Where were you when the world stopped turning" or something like that... very touching.

Hootie

I like the song that is on the Verizon commerical, "The Prayer" by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli. I am by no means a Celine fanatic. I love the classical music, too, but this has such meaningful lyrics.

Click here for lyrics

I have been watching abc all day. And they have this new commercial , well I gues its not really a commercial. Anyway its scenes of NY and ends with Denis Franz looking over the sky line and trying not to cry. Well they are playing New York state of mind during it in an instrumental, and although NY wasn't the only place touched by this, I think it was VERY moving and appropriate.

the best songs are where the stars and stripes and the eagle fly by aaron tippin, God bless the USA by lee greenwood, and of course, courtesy of the red white and blue by toby keith, everything he says in that song is true and reflects how i think we all felt and still feel to this day, USA ROCKS!!!!!!!

Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (a.k.a. "The Angry American") played in my office yesterday quite a bit. I love that song. "Only in America" by Brooks and Dunn is another good one, in addition to the others mentioned by chopper816. And "Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning" makes me tear up everytime I hear it.

They're all great patriotic songs. :)

Re: 9/11 theme music
 

Adagio for Strings is the most emotional piece of music I've ever heard. Mr. 33 played it for me one night and I just started bawling.

Barber's Adagio is one of the most beautiful pieces of classical music ever written, hands down. Americans relate it to war and the pity of war because it was promenantly featured in the movie Platoon. Last year my choir performed a choral version of it. I like it even better than with strings. The text is that of the Agnus Dei, which means:

Lamb of God who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us; Grant us peace.

We all fought tears as we sang it. It was incredibly moving.

I also highly recommend Benjamen Britten's War Requiem. Try to find the original recording with the great man himself conducting and Dietrich Fischer-Diskau, Peter Pears, and Galiena Vishnevskaya soloing. Britten juxtaposes the original Latin requiem mass with the works of Wilfred Owen, a WWI poet. Get into the text. It's striking. It's all I listened to for weeks last fall.

Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms wouldn't be amiss, either. The second movement contrasts the pacific Psalm 23 (The Lord is my Shepherd) with the bellicose Psalm 2 (Why do the nations rage so furiously together) and presents a very stunning picture of the innocence of life amid the ravages of war. It ends with Psalm 133:1, "Behold, how pleasing it is for brethern to dwell together in unity."

Now that's a lovely thought.