Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique (1958); Charles Munch, Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Continuing an occasional series about artists or designers whose work has appeared on record sleeves. Richard M. Powers is one of those illustrators whose work is remembered today for his many covers for SF books and magazines even though his commissions often took him away from the genre. Powers’ early paintings for record companies use the wiry illustration style that was popular during the 1950s, few of them resemble the X-ray views or amorphous, Tanguy-like forms that populate his cosmic vistas and alien worlds. The cover for Symphonie Fantastique is an exception, justified by the suite’s narrative thread which involves visions seen in an opium dream.
Powers is also unique, I think, in having an entire album of music dedicated to his SF covers, Powers (12 Sound Pieces Inspired By The Art Of Richard M. Powers) by Andy Partridge. This album doesn’t feature any of Powers’ own artwork but the illustrations are done in his style so the cover has been included in this list.
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 in A Minor “The Scotch” (1955); Music Appreciation Symphony Orchestra.
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.6 In B Minor, Op.74 – Pathétique (1956); Leonard Bernstein, Music Appreciation Symphony Orchestra, The Stadium Concerts Symphony Orchestra.
Verdi: Rigoletto (1956); The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra And Chorus conducted by Fausto Cleva, Robert McFerrin, Sr.
Johann Strauss: Die Fledermaus (1956); Tibor Kozma, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra And Chorus.
Mozart: The Marriage Of Figaro (Highlights) (1956); Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf, Giorgio Tozzi, Roberta Peters, Lisa Della Casa, George London, Rosalind Elias.
Puccini: Tosca (1957); Dorothy Kirsten, Daniele Barioni, Frank Guarrera, Dimitri Mitropoulos, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra And Chorus.
Verdi: Il Trovatore (1957): Mary Curtis-Verna, Kurt Baum, Rosalind Elias, Frank Guarrera, Norman Scott, Helen Vanni, James McCracken, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra And Chorus Conducted by Max Rudolf.
Bach: The Brandenburg Concertos No. 4 in G Major, No. 5 in D Major, Number 6 in B Flat (1957); The Little Orchestra Society, Thomas Scherman.
Beethoven / Leclair / Khachaturian: Kreutzer Sonata / Sonata In D Major / Chanson Poème / Dance In B Flat Major (1957); David Oistrakh.
Umberto Giordano: Andrea Chénier (1958); Mary Curtis-Verna, Richard Tucker, Mario Sereni, Rosalind Elias, Fausto Cleva.
Pagan Festival (An Exotic Love Ritual For Orchestra) (1959) by Dominic Frontiere And His Orchestra.
Mozart: Don Giovanni (1960); Erich Leinsdorf, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
An Album Of Swing Classics (1967) by Benny Goodman.
Is It… Man Or Astro-Man? (1993) by Man Or Astro-Man?
Postphonic Star Exploration (1995) by Man Or Astro-Man?
Togetherness (Control Songs, Vol. 2) (1999) by David Garland.
I Just Want It To Be Easy (2002) by Mexican Power Authority.
Afar (2013) by Frank Kimbrough / Scott Robinson.
Zeta Reticuli Blues (2014) by Lecherous Gaze.
Mozart: The Magic Flute (Abridged (1960); Tibor Kozma Conducting Metropolitan Opera Orchestra And Chorus.
Bizet: Carmen (no date); Rosalind Elias, Kurt Baum, Lucine Amara, Walter Cassel, Heidi Krall, Margaret Roggero, Clifford Harvout, George Cehanovsky, Paul Franke, Max Rudolf.
The Strauss Dynasty: Vienna Dances (no date): Anton Paulik Conducts Orchester Der Wiener Staatsoper.
Powers (12 Sound Pieces Inspired By The Art Of Richard M. Powers) (2017) by A.J. Partridge. Cover art by Andy Partridge.
Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The album covers archive
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Covers for Beyond Fantasy Fiction
• August Heat
• Picturing Vermilion Sands
• Things
A huge fan. I loved Powers’ book covers long before I knew who he was. There’s a website https://www.richardmpowers.com/ and it’s lovely to remember those covers, some of which I still possess. Is there a collection of Powers’ work in print? Needs to be.
Man or Astro-Man?! Yeah! A band that formed over in Alabama and a regular fixture in Atlanta all through the 90s. Part of the surf rock “revival”, along with The Mermen on the West coast, both informed by punk and psychedelia. Great memories.
I don’t think I noticed Powers’ art at all until I started seeing it on websites, for me he was another of those American artists whose covers didn’t turn up very often. It’s odd that Andy Partridge’s album is a remembrance of his childhood discovery of Powers’ book covers in his local library. The place must have had access to different channels than the libraries I used.
Obviously 33 rpm LPs were an improvement over 78s, in which, say, 60 minutes of music required a literal album of discs.
But as a child of the LP era, gotta say the only advantage the LP has over subsequent formats being large enough for jacket covers and art like in this post. (To a lesser extent, same for picture discs, something of the last gasp for LPs.)
For the young, LPs had the huge disadvantage skipping from flaws in the LP manufacturing. Whatever the criticisms of subsequent formats, at least nearly none skip; maybe streaming, depending, but nothing like LPs.
So. Memories triggered by this post.
I’ve been collecting CDs since the late 1980s, all my music listening is done either on CD or via lossless digital files playing out of the computer or the CD player via USB drive. I’ve still got a small stock of vinyl but the things are kept either for sentimental reasons (my mum’s old Beatles albums), work reasons (covers I’ve done myself) or albums I wanted to keep for the covers alone.