At Saturday morning’s Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm, Patti Smith performed Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” orchestrated by Hans Ek. The performance has echoed over the world and generated a lot of attention, due to Patti’s strong performance of this beautiful arrangement.
The New Yorker writes:
Smith was accompanied by the Philharmonic performing a spare and gentle arrangement of Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” orchestrated by Hans Ek, a Swedish conductor. She looked so striking: elegant and calm in a navy blazer and a white collared shirt, her long, silver hair hanging in loose waves, hugging her cheekbones. I started crying almost immediately. She forgot the words to the second verse””or at least became too overwhelmed to voice them””and asked to begin the section again. I cried more. “I’m sorry, I’m so nervous,” Smith admitted. The orchestra obliged. The entire performance felt like a fierce and instantaneous corrective to “times like these”””a reiteration of the deep, overwhelming, and practical utility of art to combat pain. In that moment, the mission of the Nobel transcended any of its individual recipients. How plainly glorious to celebrate this work.
