Saturday, January 24, 2009
They're Human Too
Hopefully many of you saw the world premiere of a great new quartet played by John Williams just before President Obama was sworn in (he actually became president at 12:00 noon, while the quartet was still playing! The musicians included Anthony McGill, Gabriela Montero, Yo Yo Ma, and Itzhak Perlman, and they sounded great. I was especially amazed that they were able to sound decent at all when it was so cold outside. Last night I was listening to NPR on the radio, and they were talking to Yo Yo Ma about that very performance. Yo Yo admitted that what everyone was hearing was a recording done the previous Sunday, and they had actually soaped their bows! Even the piano was altered so that when the pianist pressed the keys no sound would come out. If they had actually attempted to play, it would have been a disaster. I was shocked, but also relieved to know that even the great Ma an Perlman can't play in freezing temperatures!
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3 comments:
Too bad Aretha Franklin didn't do the same. I didn't hear it, but I heard later that she wasn't pleased with her performance. I guess the cold messes up every instrument, even the human kind. This is Amy Rondeau BTW.
Very interesting little tidbit.
I was wondering about that! I was just amazed at how they sounded and thought the weather would affect their quality. Hmmm...very interesting and thanks for this post.
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