Just before the oath of office was administered to Barack Obama, there was a musical offering composed by John Williams (of Star Wars fame). The selection, "Air and Simple Gifts," was written for a quartet (4 players only) featuring violin (Itzhak Perlman), cello (Yo-Yo Ma), clarinet (Anthony McGill), and piano (Gabriela Montero).
One player on each part--four parts interwoven with melody and harmony, one player shines in a phrase or two before passing off the tune to another of the remaining instruments-- this is what we call chamber music!
This chamber "configuration" defines the Montclaire String Quartet which will perform their next public subscription concert on Saturday, January 31 at 8 p.m. The concert takes place in a more intimate setting, Kanawha United Presbyterian Church on Virginia Street in downtown Charleston.
If you liked what you heard on the Mall at the inauguration, come experience chamber music firsthand!
This inauguration was not only one for the history books--this was great exposure for chamber music in the annals of American music history as well!
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comments:
Hi Betty! Stephen Colbert thinks Yo Yo mas is president, since he was playing at noon! I do plan to attend Monclaire.
Post a Comment