Artist: Yo-Yo MA
Album: Appassionato
Label: Sony Classics
Release Date: January 9, 2007
Rating: 6/7
Every song is said to have a story. These stories can lead you far and wide, cause you to experience various emotions and carry you through the lives of the composers.
The songs on pioneer cellist Yo-Yo Ma’s newest album, Appassionato, do just that—they tell stories about relationships, travels and cultural experiences.
Appassionato brings together choice pieces that show the great range of Ma’s musical abilities. The disc features pieces from a wide range of composers including cinematic composer John Williams, classical composer Vivaldi, 20th century Russian composer Kabalevsky, Morricone and Mendelssohn, among others. Each song on Appasionato, a musical term which translates to “impassioned,” represents different aspects of love. The song selection includes four never-before-released tracks alongside 11 other tracks recorded between 1978 and 2006. It is one of the strongest collections from Ma’s prodigious cello career, which has spanned over five decades.
The first track on the album is “Going To School” from the Memoirs of a Geisha Soundtrack, originally featuring John Williams, as pianist and composer. Ma and Williams expanded the arrangement to include cello for this album.
"Doce De Coco," from Ma’s 1993 album, Obrigado Brazil, features latin jazz mainstay Paquito D'Rivera on clarinet accompanied by Brazilian guitar virtuouso Romero Lubambo. It shows the listener how versatile Ma is in stretching the cello far beyond the 'classical' scene.
In the liner notes of Appasionato, Ma tells the story of how he came to record “The Swan,” the eighth cut on the album. He was in Charleston the day after his wedding in 1978, when he was asked to fly to Paris to record it. Ma flew from New York to Paris and landed that morning. Within 12 hours the piece was recorded and he was flying back to Charleston.
One of the most unique pieces on the CD is “Yanzi (Swallow Song),” a traditional Chinese piece. The song starts with a very playful sound and Ma’s cello seems to dance along with the music. Near the end of the song, the cello moves into its deep rich tones and brings the song full circle. The "Swallow Song" is performed by the Silk Road Ensemble, which is part of the Silk Road Project that Ma founded in 1998 to study the ebb and flow of ideas between cultures along the Silk Road, which connects the traditions of Asia and Europe.
“Gabriel’s Oboe” by 20th century composer Ennio Morricone is a beautiful, haunting song. Add to that the rich sound of Ma’s cello with the oboe and you’ve got a masterpiece. His expressive cello performance on the track suggests a lyrical atmosphere. Also included is another Morricone piece—“Nostalgia” from Cinema Paradiso.
An endearing aspect of the album is the fact that each song seems to take you on a journey—a journey of Ma’s experiences, but also of the wide range of characterizations of different musical cultures. The songs carry you from China to Japan to Brazil and back. Anyone who has enjoyed Ma’s performances over his long and storied career will surely enjoy this album.
Rating: 6/7
