"And we just want to point out to our viewers that I'm Wolf Blitzer and one of my chief responsibilities is to talk over anything you might not like to hear me talking over. That's what's most important."
Hey Bill, I definitely cried in parts of this. Long chords, so deeply, powerfully moving. Rich & urgent sounding. To paraphrase Paul Simon, this music speaks "of things that matter in words that must be said."
What a joyous and historical moment to reflect upon. It makes it even better to have such great artists perform. It's almost like watching a movie unfold.
Interesting fact for those who don't know: this is actually being pantomimed to an earlier recording due to the temperature outside being detrimental to the instruments.
I m a humble fiddler ,these musicians are some of my heroes, I play simple gifts also it is heaven on earth to have this in common with these heroes..and listen to them and see pres Obama Biden listening ..and the multitudes.....I for one want the Ukraine war to end...
i think its insane how well the timing of this piece works with the footage. For example in the middle when out of no where the clarinetist plays out that beautiful solo as the camera pans up and over the millions standing amdist the mall, and as you watch that (literally) uplifting camera view of that crowd,and listen to that (metaphorically) uplifting hymn of the clarinet, the bottom part of the screen that states "FACT" suddenly changes to 'Barack Obama just became president'.
Haha. During the inauguration, they played a prerecorded version of this song.. because the weather was too cold for the musical instruments (since its made out of wood)
Joseph Brackett, Shaker elder at Sabbathday Lake, Maine, wrote the song 'Tis the Gift to be Simple in 1848. Over the years, it has been shortened to Simple Gifts. The song was recorded by Sister Mildred Barker in 1977 on Rounder Records 0078, as noted in my fiddle tune book, "New England Fiddlers Repertoire" (Fiddlecase Books, 3rd Ed. 2008). John Williams simply adapted and arranged the original melody.
It was pre-recorded because they thought that the instruments would go out of tune due to the weather. They are playing along with a recording they made 2 days before and they are listening to it on their headphones. And I can't believe that the newscaster talks over this special performance. You can hardly hear it. How disrespectful. He could have announced that after the piece.
I also agree. He could have waited, or let the little banner thing at the bottom of the screen do the job without totally pulling every listener out of the music.
everybody is talking about yo yo ma and it's all pretty awesome (I'm azn), but you gotta give props to the others I mean Perlman is one of the greatest violinists of all time, gabriela montero is an amazing pianist who made her concert debut at the age of 8, and mcgill is 1st chair at metropolitan opera...and that's just simply put amazing
Yes, extra talk for Ma because he's proven to be such a humanitarian and across the board musician, with a cello, no less. ;-) You're right, though, each one of them is amazing.
I LOVE Perlman, but I found this video because my fav composer is John Williams, who wrote the piece. The woman announced his name and...... crickets. I know. Only musicians have fav composers and no matter how much they do or how longer they've been around, they still don't have name recognition. Dude has only been nominated or won an Oscar over 20 times, no biggie, lol. He writes musical scores for movies. Lots of them. He's been around since the 60's, but his music became known nationwide through Jaws, the first Star Wars movie, and Superman. Yes - that guy. Perlman did a CD of Williams' music. It is amazing. The Theme From Shindler's List is breathtaking. The man has a gift. When he plays, it is so emotional, so pure..... angelic.
it was extremly cold and that makes it very hard to play instruments like those so they put a previosly recorded thing on and they pretended to play, but it was still them playing
As a musician who has played in less-than ideal conditions involving such instruments, myself, I was astonished at how well they had pulled it off. Then I read that, yes, they played to a recording. It was a smart decision. Now we can blame everything that went wrong only on Cheif Justice Roberts.
Insane?! What do you mean? I thought of this a beautiful arrangement of both the 'Shaker', folk and classical. As far as the camera; Were you there? It's limited. Get over it. Nice post. Thank You
it's a shame that they couldn't play live. why not like...set up a glass room that's heated that they could play from and have mic's in, kinda like...a giant fish tank i guess (HAHAHA) so that people could actually see and hear them playing? anyways, it's understandable - i WOULD NOT play my stradivarius (if i had one) in that weather!
yo yo ma was AWSOME and everone else did a good job too (im not sayin yo yo ma was better i just dont know those other people) tat was lik the perfect quartet :)
Not true...the music we heard was prerecorded. Because of the weather, it would have been difficult to keep everything in tune. Only people sitting close could actually hear them really playing. But everything played on the loudspeakers; they recorded it a day earlier.
I remember seeing this song being played and him becoming president without oath, messing up his words while getting sworn in. I remember that, I also remember that trump won the 2020 election.
You can tell from the looks on their faces after performance. It's the same expression most musicians get when it doesn't go the way you expected or wanted it to. No musician really wants to risk a poor performance, and having played in frigid temps (go Santa Claus parades!) I understand the difficulties. I have no issue with them using a recording for the masses and keeping the somewhat flat version for the platform party.
It was truly amazing, thoroughly enjoyable and melodic. However, Itzhak Perlman would vehemently disagree with you on your assertion that Bach had nothing over them. Perlman is a very serious violinist dedicated to classical music, and in fact plays Bach.
@humbertsin1994 You don't know him... All who said that he has copied on Holst either don't know the Planets, or don't know Star Wars. THis is called a quote. If you are talking about his style, all great composers have take their inspiration from others. Listen to the second symphony of Beethoven and Mozart (or Haydn). They used sometimes the same skills. In that particular work, Williams has arranged a popular piece. If you said he copied, then, you are incredibly ignorant...
I think you are confused with someone else. I love John Williams and Americana, within music, etal. "Guttersnipe", well....that's Audrey Hepburn..and she is perfect in my book.
OMG!...i saw it too!!....lil UFO'S flying around...tho lets not jump into conclusions i think it might have been sum small aircrafts or jets monitoring the area 4 security reasons....sumthin like that. i hope... :S
The Nazis would have killed Itzhak Perlman... would have killed his music... just because his name is Itzhak Perlman. Does that make and god damn sense?
While I do enjoy this piece thoroughly, I do not mind the brief interruption. Wolfe was marking a moment in history as it happened. I think he was right to interrupt.
um...it was really cold during that event and taking out reall wood instruments..wouldnt that be harmful for the instruments???i heard something about the violin and cello made out of some special substance..can any tell me if its true or not?
Except that unlike Milli Vanilli, these musicians are established world-class players with international careers who actually play their instruments. They genuinely recorded the music you heard. Everything about MV was fake. Not possible to do that in the classical music world.
Can you explain what the weather has to do with it? Was it for the intonation? because they still brought the instruments out and played them. I just don't understand.
The instruments are not their good instruments. Extreme weather (cold and hot) ruins instruments. It's also very difficult to play with literally frozen hands.
Yes, because their good instruments are really, REALLY expensive. Yes, when it it's that cold outside, keeping everything in tune would be challenging. You don't want to take any chances when doing a live performance for the new president, especially in a small group. In a large group, like a choir, small errors would blend in. When you have a small group, *everything* sticks out if it isn't perfect.
The Theme introduced with the Clarinet is "Lord of the Dance" - an Irish tune...! "Dance Dance Wherever Ye May Be I am The Lord Of The Dance Said He..."
@Brigid777 Thanks for that. But I still think it's an old Irish or Scottish tune imported to the US long ago. Many of these tunes are like that and renamed. EG The fiddle tune, "Sugar Mountain" which became ( believe it or not ) Presleys "Heartbreak Hotel" was an Irish tune imported to the Appellations with Irish immigrants. So says Chet Atkins.
"And we just want to point out to our viewers that I'm Wolf Blitzer and one of my chief responsibilities is to talk over anything you might not like to hear me talking over. That's what's most important."
Lmao
John Williams getting to write and arrange a piece for the then President, may have been one of the most important highlights of his career.
An inspirational and uplifting tune befitting of a man who brought great changes to the most powerful nation on earth
Hey Bill, I definitely cried in parts of this. Long chords, so deeply, powerfully moving. Rich & urgent sounding. To paraphrase Paul Simon, this music speaks "of things that matter in words that must be said."
What a joyous and historical moment to reflect upon. It makes it even better to have such great artists perform. It's almost like watching a movie unfold.
ahhh yes, the president that did so much for the country… 😂😂😂
Interesting fact for those who don't know: this is actually being pantomimed to an earlier recording due to the temperature outside being detrimental to the instruments.
I m a humble fiddler ,these musicians are some of my heroes, I play simple gifts also it is heaven on earth to have this in common with these heroes..and listen to them and see pres Obama Biden listening ..and the multitudes.....I for one want the Ukraine war to end...
i think its insane how well the timing of this piece works with the footage. For example in the middle when out of no where the clarinetist plays out that beautiful solo as the camera pans up and over the millions standing amdist the mall, and as you watch that (literally) uplifting camera view of that crowd,and listen to that (metaphorically) uplifting hymn of the clarinet, the bottom part of the screen that states "FACT" suddenly changes to 'Barack Obama just became president'.
I started crying the moment that Wolf Blitzer announced that Obama officially became President. What a wonderful day for our country.
the president should be honored to have been in the same place as these amazing musicians
wonderful and extraordinary to see the world's two best string musicians playing together and loving every minute of it
Haha. During the inauguration, they played a prerecorded version of this song.. because the weather was too cold for the musical instruments (since its made out of wood)
It is true that this was a playback performance, Yo - Yo confirmed it in an interview.
i cry every fricking time i listen to this beautiful song.
Joseph Brackett, Shaker elder at Sabbathday Lake, Maine, wrote the song 'Tis the Gift to be Simple in 1848. Over the years, it has been shortened to Simple Gifts.
The song was recorded by Sister Mildred Barker in 1977 on Rounder Records 0078, as noted in my fiddle tune book, "New England Fiddlers Repertoire" (Fiddlecase Books, 3rd Ed. 2008).
John Williams simply adapted and arranged the original melody.
I love how they played a traditional Shaker hymn for this occasion. What a wonderful part of our heritage as Americans!
Very touching piece, it made me cry.
Yo-Yo Ma is great, he looks so happy when he plays!
Qué maravilla, por dios. Gracias a estos dos genios..
I saw this live when I was in 6th grade - we tried watching it on the smartboard but the internet prevented us from doing so so we switched it to tv
I truely adore this piece! When I listened to it while the inauguration ceremony, I was kinda enchanted ^^
This is purely beautiful.
It's actually an old Shaker hymn that has been riffed countless times in classical and popular music, most famously by Copland.
It was pre-recorded because they thought that the instruments would go out of tune due to the weather. They are playing along with a recording they made 2 days before and they are listening to it on their headphones.
And I can't believe that the newscaster talks over this special performance. You can hardly hear it. How disrespectful. He could have announced that after the piece.
That's what can be done when people from the continents meet and work together. 4 more years now of this.
We were so excited when the announcer began to read off the names. What a great performance!!!
@dickdona No, the "Lord of the Dance" theme is based off the old American tune "Simple Gifts," and they're playing a variation of "Simple Gifts" here.
Thank you Mr. President Obama we will miss you 😘💧
I remember this watching in my 12th grade econ class!!! Ill never forget that day
lol i was a year older than you
The election of Obama was the New Beginning of Hope for America. Thank ALL THE GODS for Obama and America.
I also agree. He could have waited, or let the little banner thing at the bottom of the screen do the job without totally pulling every listener out of the music.
everybody is talking about yo yo ma and it's all pretty awesome (I'm azn), but you gotta give props to the others I mean Perlman is one of the greatest violinists of all time, gabriela montero is an amazing pianist who made her concert debut at the age of 8, and mcgill is 1st chair at metropolitan opera...and that's just simply put amazing
Yes, extra talk for Ma because he's proven to be such a humanitarian and across the board musician, with a cello, no less. ;-) You're right, though, each one of them is amazing.
I LOVE Perlman, but I found this video because my fav composer is John Williams, who wrote the piece. The woman announced his name and...... crickets. I know. Only musicians have fav composers and no matter how much they do or how longer they've been around, they still don't have name recognition. Dude has only been nominated or won an Oscar over 20 times, no biggie, lol. He writes musical scores for movies. Lots of them. He's been around since the 60's, but his music became known nationwide through Jaws, the first Star Wars movie, and Superman. Yes - that guy. Perlman did a CD of Williams' music. It is amazing. The Theme From Shindler's List is breathtaking. The man has a gift. When he plays, it is so emotional, so pure..... angelic.
I am listening to this 2 days before 2020 Election Day... reminding ourselves of how great American Dream WAS
...
WHOO! Loudest cheer for Yo-Yo MA!!
what a beautiful melody!
this kind of makes me cry, i love the song!
Beautiful!
Well spotted!
Shut up Wolf! God!
it was extremly cold and that makes it very hard to play instruments like those so they put a previosly recorded thing on and they pretended to play, but it was still them playing
As a musician who has played in less-than ideal conditions involving such instruments, myself, I was astonished at how well they had pulled it off.
Then I read that, yes, they played to a recording.
It was a smart decision. Now we can blame everything that went wrong only on Cheif Justice Roberts.
@snotberg123 And John Williams one of the greatest composers of the 20th century.
I wish I could steal Yo Yo Ma's magical cello hands.
Insane?! What do you mean? I thought of this a beautiful arrangement of both the 'Shaker', folk and classical. As far as the camera; Were you there? It's limited. Get over it. Nice post. Thank You
very beauiful
they are all playing their instruments but the piano hammers were removed and the stringed sintruments were soapedto silence them
Itzhak Perlman has been on sesame street too if I recall
it's a shame that they couldn't play live. why not like...set up a glass room that's heated that they could play from and have mic's in, kinda like...a giant fish tank i guess (HAHAHA) so that people could actually see and hear them playing? anyways, it's understandable - i WOULD NOT play my stradivarius (if i had one) in that weather!
yo yo ma was AWSOME and everone else did a good job too (im not sayin yo yo ma was better i just dont know those other people) tat was lik the perfect quartet :)
Not true...the music we heard was prerecorded. Because of the weather, it would have been difficult to keep everything in tune. Only people sitting close could actually hear them really playing. But everything played on the loudspeakers; they recorded it a day earlier.
“To believe in God is to know that all the rules will be fair, and that there will be wonderful surprises.”
- Ugo Betti
nope i never heard of them but it sounds pretty and thats alll that matters, but ill try and look them up later
and added the air theme dont forget!
it was found out that they didn't play live, it was 'playbacked'
It was so cold the instruments would’ve been damaged and out of tune
Dislike for governments!👎
Like fo music!!!👍
john williams is great
I would agree, but they say the instruments could not stay in tune at such cold temperatures, so i gues it is understandable.
IDK, it's just got a better sound than clasical. It's just great. what other songs are like this?
They recorded this... yo yo ma admitted it on t.v, they didnt play in that cold!!
We were bamboozled! It was faked and everyone heard a pre-recorded tape. What happened to a new era of transparency? Hahaha.
weather played a factor why it was pre-recorded.
thats because yo yo ma is the only one of those musicians people have heard of. hes been on sesame street :-P
I remember seeing this song being played and him becoming president without oath, messing up his words while getting sworn in. I remember that, I also remember that trump won the 2020 election.
You can tell from the looks on their faces after performance. It's the same expression most musicians get when it doesn't go the way you expected or wanted it to.
No musician really wants to risk a poor performance, and having played in frigid temps (go Santa Claus parades!) I understand the difficulties. I have no issue with them using a recording for the masses and keeping the somewhat flat version for the platform party.
It was truly amazing, thoroughly enjoyable and melodic. However, Itzhak Perlman would vehemently disagree with you on your assertion that Bach had nothing over them. Perlman is a very serious violinist dedicated to classical music, and in fact plays Bach.
@humbertsin1994 You don't know him...
All who said that he has copied on Holst either don't know the Planets, or don't know Star Wars. THis is called a quote.
If you are talking about his style, all great composers have take their inspiration from others. Listen to the second symphony of Beethoven and Mozart (or Haydn). They used sometimes the same skills.
In that particular work, Williams has arranged a popular piece. If you said he copied, then, you are incredibly ignorant...
I think you are confused with someone else. I love John Williams and Americana, within music, etal. "Guttersnipe", well....that's Audrey Hepburn..and she is perfect in my book.
I know right!?!?!?!
OMG!...i saw it too!!....lil UFO'S flying around...tho lets not jump into conclusions i think it might have been sum small aircrafts or jets monitoring the area 4 security reasons....sumthin like that. i hope... :S
Can any one tell me why Brian Bowman was not invited in the performing program ?
The piano would go out if tune very fast too. Do you know how much tension there is inside of a piano?
The Nazis would have killed Itzhak Perlman... would have killed his music... just because his name is Itzhak Perlman. Does that make and god damn sense?
Who is the man sitting behind Yo Yo Ma? It looks like Robert Gibbs, who is now Obama's press secretary - but why would he be there?
saying something was insane in the context he said it is a good thing. kinda like saying "that was awesome" ;)
While I do enjoy this piece thoroughly, I do not mind the brief interruption. Wolfe was marking a moment in history as it happened. I think he was right to interrupt.
um...it was really cold during that event and taking out reall wood instruments..wouldnt that be harmful for the instruments???i heard something about the violin and cello made out of some special substance..can any tell me if its true or not?
Except that unlike Milli Vanilli, these musicians are established world-class players with international careers who actually play their instruments. They genuinely recorded the music you heard. Everything about MV was fake. Not possible to do that in the classical music world.
MILLI VANILLI 2009
@xbasket12x Actually, copyist IS a word.
Can you explain what the weather has to do with it? Was it for the intonation? because they still brought the instruments out and played them. I just don't understand.
The instruments are not their good instruments. Extreme weather (cold and hot) ruins instruments. It's also very difficult to play with literally frozen hands.
Yes, because their good instruments are really, REALLY expensive.
Yes, when it it's that cold outside, keeping everything in tune would be challenging. You don't want to take any chances when doing a live performance for the new president, especially in a small group. In a large group, like a choir, small errors would blend in. When you have a small group, *everything* sticks out if it isn't perfect.
what's the title of the songs?
WTF?! I DIDN'T EVEN TYPE THAT!
????
I didn't even watch this video!
notice how they ONLY cheered for yo-yo ma, i totally agree with that
this is not done live
The Theme introduced with the Clarinet is "Lord of the Dance" - an Irish tune...! "Dance Dance Wherever Ye May Be I am The Lord Of The Dance Said He..."
WHY IS HE TALKINNGGG
Perhaps it's time for your band teacher to get an eye exam.
@tpacemaker2
It was way too cold for the instruments and the musicians.
Wait who's that?
@14274994 Not great....AMAZING
spellbinding...
@Brigid777 Thanks for that. But I still think it's an old Irish or Scottish tune imported to the US long ago. Many of these tunes are like that and renamed. EG The fiddle tune, "Sugar Mountain" which became ( believe it or not ) Presleys "Heartbreak Hotel" was an Irish tune imported to the Appellations with Irish immigrants. So says Chet Atkins.
you... really just spelled it batoven?
REALLY????????!!!
The shakers were English and took this tune to America with them.
John Taylor i
The lead tune is from Aaron Copland, "Appalachian spring"...
And this is what the republicans threw away over race
such a shame that it was mimed :(
Yeh I know I said it was a shame.
Was the use of "fucking" really necessary?
haha pianist
I had high hopes, such a great start just to be disappointed.