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Originally Posted by FarrahWaters
Wow, I had no idea. I agree with you, I had thought it was the best thing about the inauguration, a perfect piece for the occasion.
I don't understand the reasoning. If the instruments were going to be out of tune from the cold, why would they play along with the recording? It would have been noticeable.
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I thought the same thing. They said the President-elect and all the notables could hear the live performance, while the crowd and the tv audience got the pitch-perfect version.
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It's kind of impressive, I guess, to be able to stay in sync with a recording and your quartet at the same time.
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This explains a couple of oddities I noticed, though, when I watched it a second time through on inauguration day. The piece started out almost inaudible, and then all the sudden got loud -- not like a crescendo, like someone flipped a switch. And none of the instruments were miced, though all the musicians had earpieces. I remember thinking, "wow, that's really impressive that they were able to pick up the instruments that well without direct mics." Not so impressive, it turns out.
The whole thing sounds really bizarre.