Air and Simple Gifts: Public domain shines within latest compositions
I was so happy all day long on Tuesday, watching the country, indeed the world, watch us welcome a new administration. One of the high-points was the fabulous rendering by four of the world’s finest musicians (even if they recorded it in the warmth) of John Williams’ composition, “Air and Simple Gifts,” based on the familiar Shaker melody referenced in the title. Because Simple Gifts belongs to the world, John was free as the air to weave his beautiful composition around it.
It was and is a simple gift, that we let our creative works become the seeds of new creative life at some point. Why, I wonder, have we come to think that the point at which we give our creative wealth to the children of the future should be in the neighborhood of, on average, a century after we created them? How on earth did we get to the point where we believe that that’s a good idea?
Listen to the performance. Savor the complexity built around the simplicity. Beautiful isn’t it?
