Inauguration Music - Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma - Wasn't Live But Recorded

WASHINGTON — The classical music played for millions of people watching President Barack Obama's inauguration was not the live performance it appeared to be.

Unless you were one of the fortunate few sitting within earshot of the celebrated performers, what you heard was a recording made two days earlier.

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Itzhak Perlman, pianist Gabriela Montero and clarinetist Anthony McGill made the decision a day before Tuesday's inauguration to use a previously recorded audio tape for the broadcast of the ceremonies.

Carole Florman, a spokeswoman for the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, said the weather was too cold for the instruments to stay in tune.

"They were very insistent on playing live until it became clear that it would be too cold," said Florman in a telephone interview Thursday night.

People sitting nearby could hear the musicians play "Air and Simple Gifts", written for the inauguration by John Williams, but their instruments were not amplified.

"It would have been a disaster if we had done it any other way," Perlman told The New York Times, which first reported that the music was taped on its Web site Thursday. "This occasion's got to be perfect. You can't have any slip-ups."

The Marine Band, the youth choruses and the Navy Band Sea Chanters performed live, Florman said, although Aretha Franklin was accompanied by taped music and voices.

Florman said all the acts "laid down tape" before Tuesday's inauguration. When they did their sound checks on Monday, all but the quartet made the decision to have their live performances broadcast.

The temperature hovered around 30 for the ceremony on the Capitol steps, too cold for McGill's clarinet, Ma's cello or Perlman's violin to offer true pitch. But the cold played havoc with the piano, which can't hold tune below 55 degrees for more than two hours, Florman said. The group played at 11:43 a.m., and guests seated near them could hear them as well as the tape made two days earlier. Guests seated farther away, the crowds that thronged the National Mall, and the millions who watched around the world heard the taped version of Williams' piece.

"This isn't Milli Vanilli," Florman insisted, referring to the late 1980s group stripped of a Grammy for lip-syncing. "They had to perform in such cold weather, the instruments couldn't possibly be in tune. They were able to play in sync with the tape. It's not unusual."

(This version CORRECTS spelling of Gabriela in 3rd graf.)

Comments

[CraigR]

Is it live...or Memorex? Was it really "on tape", or was it recorded on CD? That's what I want to know!

[thisoldbroad]

I'm not a musician, but even I wondered at the time how they could play in such cold conditions & if the weather would damage the instruments. I'm not at all disappointed or surprised they recorded it all earlier. This is not a situation where we were duped because they don't sound as well live as they do in the studio, like so many music divas today.

I loved seeing them & enjoyed it very much.
Bless their hearts for doing it all without their warm coats on.

[BEHM777]

Any real musician understands. By the way, Yo-Yo Ma, explained the whole thing on NPR today.

[nellpost]

Obviously, you cannot play well any reed instrument in weather such as was during the inaug. And the same, obviously, goes for stringed instruments. And without gloves in that weather, obviously one's fingers wouldn't work as needed to play a piano well. Obviously.

[crablover]

Have you ever tried to keep a stringed instrument in tune in 14 degree weather? If I owned a priceless 300-year old cello or violin, there's no way I'd even take it out of its case!

[libbygirl]

Big deal! I'm constantly amazed at what people find news-worthy.

[pangursperson]

As a classical musician, I am both sympathetic and queasy about this. And ditto to whoever said Aretha should have sung in a lower key. But again, my sympathies!

[Malamati]

I wondered about that. As I understand it it was 14 degrees that day. As a musician I have had to play outdoors on cold days and it is very difficult, if not impossible, to play a stringed instrument when your hands are too numb to feel the strings.

[MrJoyboy]

Next you'll tell me Obama lip-synched his speech.

[zanbama]

Obama thought it was live. He turned back to listen and was really loving it. So who cares...it was beautiful to hear.

[milo h minderbinder]

Well, they *were* playing live, it's just that the live version was only heard by the people close enough to hear it acoustically. I'd be curious to hear from someone close enough to hear the live version, I bet it still sounded pretty darn good despite the weather.

[marc1antony]

and with all that is wrong in the world, this is news because????

[grf67]

So what? Why is it news that instruments do not hold their pitch in the cold? Is this turning into the National Enquirer?

[Shellly]

Well we get to do the whole thing over in 4 years hopefully the weather will be more balmy!

[stanschurman]

Does that mean Itzhak Perman and Yo Yo Ma were bow synching?

[ecotopian]

Yes. Deception, however good the intentions, is still deception. It is interesting that the Marine Corps Band was live and the professionals weren't. If tuning were truly the issue, wouldn't have affected the Marines as well? Yes, folks, their instruments need to be tuned as well. And, yes, weather can affect them, too.

[jojojo]

Much less true of band instruments than strings and piano..

[milo h minderbinder]

For the record, the military bands are professionals as well, while they aren't individually famous, they are paid to do that job.

[Joseph Carriker]

They -were- playing. This world need less amateurs judging the decisions of professionals, and more people capable of reading comprehension. Reread the article. They were actually playing, it's just that's not what was piped over the speakers. They couldn't be sure of the quality of the performance in that weather.

[brad33le]

let's sit back and watch all the same people who cri.ed and whi.ned over lip synching during the beijing olympics opening ceremony, come here and start defending a faked obama inauguration LOL. honestly as a di.e hard democrat i gotta admit this presidency seems more like amateur hour with their flubbed oath, faked inauguration ceremonies, deny burris accept burris flipflop, absence from gaza cri.sis, failure to get rest of TARP funds (ouch), can't even get all his cabinet nominees through, we need someone who knows how to lead, this isn't learning hour on pbs

[milo h minderbinder]

The olympics wasn't just lip syncing, it was the "pretty" girl who couldn't sing lip syncing to the recording of the "ugly" girl, that's why it ended up a scandal.

There's nothing Obama can do to stop Roberts from flubbing the oath.

Burris was accepted because the IL supreme court said they had to.

And they DID get the rest of the tarp funds - the house voted against it, but since the senate didn't go along, their vote was meaningless.

And unless you're one of the straggling PUMAs, you're not convincing anyone that you're a "diehard democrat".

[jojojo]

Exactly, Milo. These guys weren't synching anything. they were plahying. the recording went out , yes, but it was of them. Not at all like Olympics fiasco, where who we saw never had anything to do with what was heard.

And, uh , Burris was in place before obama was president. he had, and couldn't have had, anything to do wth it. it's not the call of the pres or pres-elect.

Roberts, not O, messed up the oath process

[TheBrizz]

Amen.