Air and Simple Gifts for US Presidential Inauguration

For some reason, I really enjoy this piece of classical music composed for the Barack Obama and Joe Biden Presidential and Vice Presidential Inauguration.

clipped from thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com A New Williams Work for a Momentous Occasion By Anthony Tommasini clipped from graphics8.nytimes.com Air and Simple Gifts Itzhak Perlman on violin, Yo Yo Ma on cello, Garbriela Montero on piano and Anthony McGill on clarinet. clipped from thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com The cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who was asked by the inauguration committee to organize the performance, invited three illustrious colleagues to join him: the renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman; the superb young clarinetist Anthony McGill, a principal player in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra (and among the few black artists to hold a principal chair in a major orchestra); and the fiery Venezuelan-American pianist Gabriele Montero. The intrepid performers had to cope with performing outdoors in temperatures hovering in the mid-20s. Ms. Montero, especially, looked to be freezing and wore woolen gloves with the fingers removed. But they all managed remarkably well. He got the mood right, I thought, in this contemplative occasional piece.

Link to video of song on New York Times. Introduction by Dianne Feinstein the senior U.S. Senator from California.