Classical musicians Itzhak Perlman, left, and Yo-Yo Ma performed during the inauguration of r President Barack Obama at the Capitol, missing the window-washer behind them. (Photo by Mannie Garcia / Bloomberg News)
by Mark Silva
It was so real, it had to be Memorex.
That was cellist Yo-Yo Ma and violinist Itzhak Perlman playing Air and Simple Gifts for the frigid inaugural ceremony surrounding President Barack Obama's swearing-in, all right, but that was not live sound broadcast across the National Mall for more than one million other celebrants huddled against the cold.
That was a tape -- or, more likely, digital.
It was too cold for the cello, violin and Anthony McGill's clarinet to hold true pitch, according to Carole Florman, a spokeswoman for the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, and Gabriela Montero's piano could not hold its tune for more than two hours under those conditions.
"They were very insistent on playing live until it became clear that it would be too cold," Florman told the Associated Press. Indeed, all of the acts had "laid down tape'' of their performances before Tuesday's inauguration, she said, but the classical quartet alone decided that it would have to run that tape for the ceremony.
"It would have been a disaster if we had done it any other way," Perlman told The New York Times, which first reported that tape-syncing on its Web-site. "This occasion's got to be perfect. You can't have any slip-ups."
The ever-ready Marine Band, youth choruses and Navy Band Sea Chanters performed live, Florman said, although Aretha Franklin's rousing My Country 'Tis of Thee was accompanied by taped music and voices. (A Detroit hat shop has been flooded with requests for the hat she was wearing, a gray, felt hat with a Swarovski rhinestone-bordered bow hand-molded, but women are having to settle for a $179 alternate to the $500 chapeau.)
With the temperature hovering around freezing for the inaugural ceremony, the quartet played for those nearby - guests seated nearby heard then, we're told, but the mall crowd and home viewing audience heard the two-day-old tape of Williams' composition.
"This isn't Milli Vanilli," Florman said, with an allusion to the pop group once stripped of a Grammy Award 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."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Comments
As an old time musician, I can tell you outdoor gigs aren't great in the winter. Although I play keyboards, I can tell you there is pain in pressure on the strings.
Posted by: bill r. | January 23, 2009 2:46 PM
The outrage!
What about the Chinese Olympic opening ceremonies?
What's next?
Is Obama going to have to talk without a teleprompter?
Posted by: Jim | January 23, 2009 3:13 PM
While I understand why the musicians couldn't play live, there should never have been the implication that they were. FOr heaven's sakes -- if we can't trust an administration on something like this, how can we trust him/it on other things? Let people know the details, have the anchors admit, upfront, that this is Memorex, so to speak.
I know it doesn't matter to lots of people, but this is flat out disception and dishonest. But hey! hail to the new atmosphere of "transparency." Except, of course, when it's not. Like, right before the oath.
Posted by: Beth | January 23, 2009 3:26 PM
Ah, the joys of playing in cold weather in high school marching band. The woodwinds and brass would be about a half step sharp. The front-line percussion instruments would be about a half step flat.
It sounds absolutely terrible, but it's the weather - what else can you do?
Posted by: Rob | January 23, 2009 3:40 PM
Jim and Beth would also like to know why didn't Obama tell the people it was cold.
Posted by: bill r. | January 23, 2009 4:15 PM
Jim & Beth,
Do you know how to put things into perspective? Do you have any idea of what that even means? Perhaps you need to learn. By your comments, you confuse apples
with golf carts. And if you think that's ridiculous, you are absolutely right! Grow up.
Posted by: Luke | January 23, 2009 4:33 PM
What I don't understand is how the performers looked like they were actually playing. If the people around them hear them playing their out of tune instruments, wouldn't that clash against the "real" pitches? I play the piano and the viola and can't image how you can you actually fake playing a stringed instrument while not touching the strings. I guess I just don't get the process.
Posted by: Erik Larson | January 23, 2009 5:24 PM
What I don't understand is how the performers looked like they were actually playing. If the people around them hear them playing their out of tune instruments, wouldn't that clash against the "real" pitches? I play the piano and the viola and can't image how you can you actually fake playing a stringed instrument while not touching the strings. I guess I just don't get the process.
Posted by: Erik Larson | January 23, 2009 5:34 PM
I can't believe people are actually outraged at this! When struck with the decision of having sub-standard music when so much work went into the preparation is preposterous. This is not a situation of the administration (or more appropriately, the committee planning the ceremony) to pull a fast one on the viewers. They were simply providing the most beautiful ceremony possible, planning for all contingencies, such as the one presented by the weather. Don't let a small event-planning detail affect your thoughts on the new administration!
Posted by: Kim | January 23, 2009 5:59 PM
Perfect reply, Kim!
Posted by: Judy | January 23, 2009 6:10 PM
I was there, in the cold. I am also a musician. They sounded wonderful, it was an exciting experience, and I do not feel cheated if these very fine and professional musicians had some electronic assistance in their efforts to celebrate the occasion. Lighten up, people.
Posted by: Cheryl | January 23, 2009 6:31 PM
I was actually wondering about it when I saw them playing - I've been a clarinetist for 15 years and there's no way in the world that one could make an instrument sound that good after being in the cold for hours on end.
High school marching band late-fall football games, anyone?
Posted by: Emma | January 23, 2009 6:46 PM
It is as if the performers were accompanying themselves to this beautiful Williams composition....what is the beef??? It was without fault. I thoroughly enjoyed the piece, and the performers willing to freeze their bottoms for this event is truly commendable....cudos to all involved. There were zero options that were plausable.
Posted by: John Blaisdell | January 23, 2009 7:01 PM
It is as if the performers were accompanying themselves to this beautiful Williams composition....what is the beef??? It was without fault. I thoroughly enjoyed the piece, and the performers willing to freeze their bottoms for this event is truly commendable....cudos to all involved. There were zero options that were plausable.
Posted by: John Blaisdell | January 23, 2009 7:01 PM
Am I too cynical in assuming that performers are always lip-syncing?
They should perhaps announce it when they are not.
Posted by: GoTrib | January 23, 2009 7:56 PM
Why are folks having a herd of cattle over this? You put a string instrument in the cold, it's going to shrink the wood and the strings will go flat. If our society wasn't so hooked on insipid pop music and the tricks the promoters play to make it sound perfect this never would have been an issue. Let it go.
Posted by: cimbalok | January 23, 2009 7:59 PM
Maybe CNN could have helped by transmitting a holograph of the performers to their places on the podium while they performed live comfortably in front of a green screen. This wouldn't even be news if the public was made aware that it was a taped (digital or otherwise) performance. People don't like to feel that they were hoodwinked. Remember the outcry when it was discovered that Ashlee Simpson was lip-synching on SNL? Just be up front and honest with us and we'll forgive most of this, but don't try to make us believe what isn't real.
Posted by: Pretzel1 | January 23, 2009 8:26 PM
As a guitarist who has had to play outside in freezing temperatures, I felt complete sympathy for them as soon as I saw the performance. The instruments must have been junkers, because no one would take a Stradavarius outside in those temperatures. Even if the instruments can hold their tuning, your fingers go numb after 3 or 4 minutes, and you start making mistakes you can't control. They were perfectly justified in using the pre-recorded music. All are truly amazing musicians, and it's not like someone else was playing on the recordings.
... I was wondering how Yitzhak Perlman could move so much and the sound level always stayed the same. This explains it.
Posted by: Eddie | January 23, 2009 11:18 PM
I'm also a musician and commented to my wife that they were remarkably in tune, given the temperature. When I heard that this beautiful piece was pre-recorded, it made total sense. I just felt sorry for their instruments. And yes, they were playing live as well.
Posted by: Elliott | January 24, 2009 12:40 AM
Beth - "flat out deception and dishonest" is a bit overarching. But yes, I agree with you that somehow - if possible - that an up front statement that "this is a recording" could have been a good idea.
I have three more takes on this
1) I was wondering aloud if some sort of micro-climate with strategically placed heat was creating an artificially warm environment for them to play. I think it is technically possible, but obviously that didn't happen. And, given your reaction - that kind of extravagance would have become ANOTHER bone of contention.
2) Lighten up - the real story came out very quickly.
3) As a musician myself, I can easily see the reasonableness in the final paragraph "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."
Sorry, I know it can be more fulfilling to make this a hot partisan issue.
Posted by: daytoncapri | January 24, 2009 7:25 PM
It doesn't matter. The music was beautiful. Was that Gibbs sitting up there behind the musicians while they did their thing? That was the bigger story. Before it was reported the music was prerecorded--a few of us remarked, "what is Gibbs doing way up there"?
Posted by: Vivian | January 25, 2009 11:48 AM