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Air and Simple Gifts

(Performed at President Obama's Inauguration)
TV Broadcast Music composed and arranged by John Williams
Format: DVD .Itzhak Perlman, violin
Total Playing Time: 4:40 .Yo-Yo Ma, cello
Date: Jan 20, 2009 Anthony McGill, clarinet
Cat. No. 073 Gabriela Montero, piano

World Premiere of Air and Simple Gifts

Violinist Itzhak Perlman

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma

Metropolitan Opera clarinetist Anthony McGill

Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden

Williams' music to Obama's ears
Ma, Perlman to perform at inauguration
by JON BURLINGAME

A classical quartet gets the prime spot between the swearing-in of Vice President-elect Joseph Biden and that of President-elect Barack Obama on Tuesday. And along the way, a 56-year-old musical injustice will be rectified.

Two of the nation's most familiar classical artists -- cellist Yo-Yo Ma and violinist Itzhak Perlman -- will be joined by Metropolitan Opera clarinetist Anthony McGill and Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero in performing a new piece by composer John Williams.

It's called "Air and Simple Gifts," the centerpiece of which will be "an exuberant rendering," in Williams' words, of traditional Shaker hymn "The Gift to Be Simple," which Aaron Copland made famous in his 1944 ballet "Appalachian Spring."

Williams surrounds "Simple Gifts," as the tune is also called, with an original, hymn-like theme. The whole piece will run about 4½ minutes and will be performed live by the quartet (although Williams will supervise a recording of it Sunday in D.C. as an emergency backup in case of inclement weather).

The president-elect asked Perlman and Ma to perform, and they in turn called Williams -- a frequent collaborator with both artists -- "to help them prepare something to play." Ma chose the other two performers, Williams told Daily Variety.

Knowing of Obama's appreciation for Copland, they chose the Shaker hymn, which Williams arranged for this unusual quartet, and then composed "a reflective and prayerful theme" as musical bookends.

Since Ma was in L.A. last week to perform with the Philharmonic, he visited Williams on Saturday to run through the piece. The quartet played it for the first time on Tuesday in New York and will rehearse again and record it with Williams on Sunday. Chamber groups are not usually "conducted," so Williams will not be seen on Tuesday (although he said he may attend as part of the crowd).

In January 1953, Copland's "Lincoln Portrait" was scheduled to be performed at Dwight Eisenhower's inaugural concert but was banned at the last minute when an Illinois congressman complained about Copland's liberal politics. Later that year, Copland became a target of Joe McCarthy's Communist witch-hunt.

In time, Copland was "completely rehabilitated," Williams noted, performing at the White House and eventually receiving the Congressional Gold Medal. The performance at this inauguration of "Simple Gifts," a piece widely associated with Copland, "describes a completed circle of events that is nice to think about," the composer said.

"We all feel a sense of great privilege to be able to contribute in a very small way, musically, to an event like this," Williams added. "It's a great moment in our history."

(Source: www.variety.com)

Air and Simple Gifts is a classical quartet arranged by John Williams for the January 20, 2009, inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States. The first public performance of the piece was in Washington, D.C., immediately prior to Obama taking the oath of office, when musicians Anthony McGill (clarinet), Itzhak Perlman (violin), Yo-Yo Ma (cello) and Gabriela Montero (piano) synced their performance to a tape they had recorded two days earlier. It was the first classical quartet to be performed at a presidential inauguration. Obama officially became the President while the piece was being performed, at noon, as the United States Constitution stipulates.

Williams based the piece on the familiar nineteenth century Shaker hymn "Simple Gifts," by Joseph Brackett. The source piece is famous for its appearance in Aaron Copland's ballet Appalachian Spring. Williams chose the selection from Copland, one of Obama's favorite classical composers.

The piece is slightly under 4.5 minutes. It is structured in roughly three parts. The first section presents the "Air" material, consisting of a spare, descending modal melody introduced by violin, pensively explored in duet with cello and piano accompaniment. The entrance of the clarinet, playing the "Simple Gifts" theme, signals the beginning of a small set of variations on that melody. The "Air" melody at first intermingles with the "Gifts" theme, though it is supplanted by increasingly energetic variations. Midway through, the key shifts from A-major to D-major, in which the piece concludes. A short coda reprising the "Air" material follows the most vigorous of the "Gifts" variations. The piece concludes with an unusual series of cadences, ending with chord progression D-major followed by B-major, G-minor and finally D-major.

(Source: Wikipedia)

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