Chris Thile: Field Recordings x Aspen Ideas Festival

Suraya Mohamed, September 4, 2024 Footpaths and a manmade stream bisect Anderson Park, an open grassy area in the middle of the Aspen Ideas Festival campus. An 800pole bamboo sculpture was under construction nearby where Nickel Creeks Chris Thile, violinist Sofia HashemiAsasi, and students from the Aspen Music School were setting up for this performance. Thile was excited as he coached the group through a rehearsal of Johann Sebastian Bachs Concerto for 2 Violins in D Minor, BWV 1043, 3rd Movement. Soon, an audience gathered on the hill to watch the concert and we were finally ready to begin. The long grass rustled close to our microphones and added a texture of tranquility to this joyful performance. Afterward, Thile played two of his own compositions, Dionysus and Ecclesiastes 2:24. Before his paean to the god of winemaking, he said So I think this is undeniably a nice place, right here, part of the natural world that we get so little of these days and it brings to mind wine