Appalachian Spring (1944-45). Aaron Copland /via obama and williams/

Image via Wikipedia

I've decided the Obama inauguration was the apex of post-modernism and we are headed in a different and hopefully better direction. When the conservative David Brooks accuses the Republican Party of nihilism, clearly we are in a time of change.

Back to music, consider the John Williams composition Air and Simple Gifts. I did a crude inventory of the response to the piece. A month later, any outrage over the lip synching has disappeared. How much of that is because Obama now has his sea legs is hard to say. It may also help that the former President has been released to pursue his latest agenda.

And from an aesthetic point of view, I think Russell Platt got it right:

John Adams, responding to the catastrophe of 9/11, wrote a masterpiece, “On the Transmigration of Souls”; Williams, responding to a request for a Presidential entr’acte from Mr. Obama, made a touching little tribute to Copland’s “Appalachian Spring.” Sure, it’s a response to a different kind of assignment. But it could have been more.

Since my (aesthetic) mission in life is to discover and amplify the best works in American classical music, I'd like to thank John Williams for his help in recognizing and publicizing Appalachian Spring as an official "a" work.

Also, lala has Williams' new "single:" Air and Simple Gifts - Yo-Yo M...

---

• Kenneth Woods also suggests Appalachian Spring as America's great work.
• 100 or so Appalachian Spring tracks on lala.
• Clearing the Air about John Williams' Simple Gift (netnewmusic.net)
• Barack Obama inauguration music was mimed (telegraph.co.uk)
• Experts defend pre-recorded inauguration music (thestar.com)

Comments

[Charles D]

I thought the Williams effort was singularly weak. While it is nice to be reminded of Copland's work, it would be far better to simply hear Copland. There are any number of contemporary American composers who could done better that Williams here.