January 23, 2009 Say it ain't so, Yo-Yo Ma Play video

(NECN) - Everything was not as it seemed at President Obama's Inauguration.

It turned out that the music played just before his oath of office was a recording.

Massachusetts cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Itzhak Perlman and two colleagues appeared to be playing live.

But what the audience actually heard was a recording the classical quartet made days earlier.

Officials said the weather was too cold for the instrument to stay in tune.

People sitting nearby could hear the musicians play "Air and Simple Gifts", written for the inauguration by John Williams, but their instruments were not amplified.

Listen to the Inaugural performance by clicking here.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.