Yo Yo Vanilli

It turns out Yo Yo Ma and crew were only miming their widely cheered inauguration performance.

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 Gabriella 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.