cyntillating sounds: w

a column on the state of classics

Yes, Classical Music Can!

We saw the festivities coming at us for months now, but when it was announced that the

Inauguration Ceremony of January 20th would be ‘accompanied’ by an eclectic musical

mix of Aretha Franklin, Yo-Yo Ma and the Marine Corps Band,

I added yet another vote for our new President Obama.

Not that there have not been memorable musical moments in past Inaugurations.

Ronald Reagan did his best, for example, asking Jessey Norman to sing the Quaker Hymn

Tis a Gift to be Simple. And yesterday, here was that evergreen back again,

this time in a morphed transcription of Aaron Copland’s adaptation from Appalachian Spring,

especially made by American composer John Williams, himself eclectically accepted

throughout America, from the classical east out to the Hollywood west, ‘from sea to shining sea’.

And even though Queen Aretha didn’t once again take our breath away with

the high notes of yore, she was there, despite her age and the chilly Washington climate,

in a terrific hat, representing one of the greatest of American cultural traditions,

gospel music.

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who has brought his own eclectic charm to global classical music,

teamed up with the beloved and respected Israeli violinist Itzhak Perlman in William’s new work.

And it was Perlman who produced the best notes heard from the Capitol:

the variations afforded him by this adaptation were straight from the heart.

What musicality, what humanity!

What was going through his mind as he performed on those famed steps in these

first hours of a cease fire in Gaza?

Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero was a new discovery for me, and although

I couldn’t hear her well enough in the delayed-live ‘live’ TV broadcast

(and admittedly, I was at a party too...),

her poise (and very savy fingerless gloves and windproof score) instantly made me

want to know more. She, together with young Met clarinetist Anthony McGill,

followed Perlman and Ma with mature respect, molding in sound what

broadcast images nearly destroyed.

(The numerous YouTube versions are up and ready to be enjoyed.)

How wonderful to have this classical presence on such an historic occasion.

Is this perhaps a promise which will lead to more?

Can we once again expect the likes of Casals and Horowitz in recital at the White House?

Ah, that would be a long treasured relief.

Not that we don’t love cowboy country music,

we just expect the President to be a bit more of a classic.