The Music We Played On Sept. 11, 2001
Toni Ann Costa mourns the victims of the World Trade Center disaster on Sept. 14, 2001. Joe Raedle/Getty Images hide caption
As NPR covered the events of Sept. 11, 2001, it was music that gave listeners time to reflect; to digest the images and the impact. So many letters came to NPR telling us how comforted they were by the music. A few days later, we put together some of those songs for an episode of All Songs Considered, in part to answer some of those letters wondering what we'd played (precise record keeping was impossible), and also to create an aural snapshot that in some small way tried to capture the tone of a nation shaken and changed.
At the time, All Songs Considered was a very young show and looked and sounded very different from now. For one thing, we used to do a lot of slideshows with music and text. This was in the day of dial-up connections, so the quality of the images and audio was pretty rough by today's standards, but hopefully no less affecting.
This is the little slideshow we did after Sept. 11, followed by some of the songs that were played during the live coverage.
Songs From Sept. 11
Begin Sweet World
From 'Begin Sweet World'
By Richard Stoltzman
The Music We Played On Sept. 11, 2001
Opening
From 'Glassworks'
By Philip Glass
The Music We Played On Sept. 11, 2001
Eternal Future
From 'Fast Cheap and Out of Control'
By Caleb Sampson
The Music We Played On Sept. 11, 2001
Smiles and Tears
From 'Work in Progress'
By Edgar Meyer
The Music We Played On Sept. 11, 2001
Broken Glass
From '6 Days, 6 Nights'
By Michael Nyman
The Music We Played On Sept. 11, 2001
Music From Behind The Wall
From 'Highlights from "Alternatives": A Series of Performances of Soviet Avant Garde Music'
By George Pelecis
The Music We Played On Sept. 11, 2001
Hill of Solitude-Valley of Festivity
From 'Lamentation'
By Tunde Jegede
The Music We Played On Sept. 11, 2001
Without Express Intention
From 'Work in Progress'
By Edgar Meyer
The Music We Played On Sept. 11, 2001
Boy About 10
From 'By the Dawn's Early Light'
By Harold Budd