‘Air and Simple Gifts’ John Williams at Obama Inauguration
John William's new "arrangement" for Barack Obama's Presidential Inauguration, featuring Itzhak Perlman, Yo Yo Ma, Gabriela Montero and Anthony McGill
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fact: they prerecorded this composition by john williams two days before. the mics were not turned on. They had earpieces playing the music that was being played on the speakers. The intonation would’ve been horrible at that 30+ degree weather in the middle of January outside. Isnt it a wonderful composition, though??
Simplemente maravilloso!!!!
Hahaha!
beautiful
I remember watching this live and thinking..My God..I have to download! Its truly breathtaking.
OMG I was doing that!
i love this it is so beautiful i learned how to play it on the guitar and i was inspired
speechless…!
he didnt want to turn around and strain is his the neck the entire time bud
I would have been yelling at Yo-Yo Ma’s name and then doing back flips at John Williams. hahaha. Beautiful.
Wow, it’s the crème de la crème!
I expected Obama to be more attentive. If someone had written such a beautiful piece for me I would’ve been awe struck.
I love how the audiance is taking this in. I mean you could almost hear a pin drop.
Fantastic!
This performance always gives me goosebumps.
Favorite part: 3:10
yo yobama
Simple Gifts IS lord of the dance. Its an early american Shaker tune.
i love yo yo ma
Me too!
wow, when I heard the “yeah!”-screams at the mentioning of the names of each musicians I expected a REALLY BIG “YEAAAH!” when she mentioned John Williams.
But instead all is quiet.
that was disappointing.
It’s impossible for John Williams *not* to be great, but you can still tell when he’s phoning it in – compare the first two Harry Potter movies to the Star Wars prequels, and it’s clear he was way more into the latter. He was phoning it in here.
I love this song, and this recording of simple gifts is amazing as well.
Is that Taye Diggs on clarinet? Hahaha
I wish yo yo ma was my dad.. D:
The reason its sounds like Lord of the Dance is because Sydney Carter the author of Lord of the Dance wrote the lyrics for the music from Simple Gifts.
I really like John Williams and love this piece. However, is it just me or do some sections of this piece sound just like Lord of the dance?