The first public performance of the piece was in Washington, D.C., immediately prior to Obama taking the oath of office, when musicians Anthony McGill (clarinet), Itzhak Perlman (violin), Yo-Yo Ma (cello) and Gabriela Montero (piano)[2] synced their performance to a tape they had recorded two days earlier.

[5] Although it appeared that the piece was being performed live, it was in fact mimed while a recording made two days before was fed to the television pool and speakers.

[3] Yo-Yo Ma told NPR's All Things Considered that the piano keys had been decoupled from the hammers, and the bows of the stringed instruments had been soaped to silence them.

[8] The first section presents the "Air" material, consisting of a spare, descending modal melody introduced by violin, pensively explored in duet with cello and piano accompaniment.

The entrance of the clarinet, playing the "Simple Gifts" theme, signals the beginning of a small set of variations on that melody.