Wow, my first blog post on Cnyexpat and I'm already questioning the artistic integrity of Yitzchak Pearlman and Yo-Yo Ma! As the Tiempos del Nuevo York explained, that first 'live' performance of the administration was actually pre-recorded for our listening pleasure.

The reason why they did it makes plenty of sense; very cold and windy conditions make it difficult to make music. See performance of Aretha Franklin, ibid, (lacking usual awesomeness).

That explains the problem, but not the solution. I don't doubt that those four musicians could lay down an equally awesome performance right now should they so choose, but that's not what they did by getting up there in front of us. In effect, they said, "We're doing this right now." Why break faith with the audience like that? Why not either find some other way to perform (like inside a translucent screen), or just show us a video?