Air and Simple Gifts

UPDATE, January 23, 2009: The Milli Vanilli Inauguration

The Frigid Fingers Were Live, but the Music Wasn’t

“Truly, weather just made it impossible,” Carole Florman, a spokeswoman for the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, said on Thursday. “No one’s trying to fool anybody. This isn’t a matter of Milli Vanilli,” Ms. Florman added, referring to the pop band that was stripped of a 1989 Grammy because the duo did not sing on their album and lip-synched in concerts.

Ms. Florman said that the use of a recording was not disclosed beforehand but that the NBC producers handling the television pool were told of its likelihood the day before.

The network said it sent a note to pool members saying that the use of recordings in the musical numbers was possible. Inaugural musical performances are routinely recorded ahead of time for just such an eventuality, Ms. Florman said. The Marine Band and choruses, which performed throughout the ceremony, did not use a recording, she said.

At the time, I wondered how the instruments were able to hold up given the weather conditions.

I assumed that the musicians had to be performing from a very well heated perch.

I understand why the performance was recorded, but I do feel somewhat duped.

As I watch the video, it's not the same.

The drama of what was sold as a live performance, before an audience of millions, is gone.

NBC should have fessed up. What is this? China and the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics?
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This was beautiful.

Based on a piece composed by Joseph Brackett, Jr. in 1848, this new work, "Air and Simple Gifts," was composed by John Williams for Barack Obama's inauguration.

It was performed by Itzhak Perlman on violin, Yo-Yo Ma on cello, Gabriela Montero on piano, and Anthony McGill on clarinet.