Various Composers - Songs of Comfort and Hope (Yo-Yo Ma; Kathryn Stott)

Information

1. Traditional English - Amazing Grace, Prelude (arr. Graham Fitkin)
2. Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II - Ol' Man River (arr. Roderick Williams)
3. Traditional American - Shenandoah (arr. Caroline Shaw)
4. Antonín Dvořák - Goin' Home (from Symphony No. 9, "From the New World") [arr. William Arms Fisher]
5. Ernest Bloch - Jewish Song (Jewish Life, No. 3)
6. Sergei Rachmaninov - Zdes' khorosho, Op. 21, No. 7
7. Vasily Solovyov-Sedoi, Mikhail Matusovsky - Moscow Nights (arr. Stephen Hough)
8. Harold Arlen - Over the Rainbow (arr. Tom Poster)
9. Wu Tong - Rain Falling from the Roof
10. Felix Mendelssohn - Song Without Words, Op. 109
11. Harry Sdraulig - Fantasia on Waltzing Matilda
12. Traditional English - Scarborough Fair (arr. Stephen Hough)
13. Edvard Grieg - Solveig's Song
14. Francis Poulenc - Les Chemins de l'Amour
15. Erich Wolfgang Korngold - Marietta's Lied
16. Traditional Zulu lullaby - Thula Baba (arr. Roderick Williams)
17. Traditional Irish - The Last Rose of Summer (arr. Benjamin Britten)
18. Traditional Irish - Londonderry Air (Danny Boy) [arr. Fritz Kreisler]
19. Violeta Parra - Gracias a la Vida (arr. Jorge Calandrelli)
20. Ross Parker, Hughie Charles - We'll Meet Again (arr. Jorge Calandrelli)
21. Traditional English - Amazing Grace, Postlude (arr. Graham Fitkin)

Yo-Yo Ma, cello

Kathryn Stott, piano

Date: 2020

Label: Sony

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Review

When Covid-19 hit the US hard in the first months of 2020 and lockdowns began to be imposed in the hardest-hit states, Yo-Yo Ma responded on Twitter with brief, consolatory musical offerings under the hashtag #songsofcomfort. This album takes that idea and wrangles it into a more polished form. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting the rough-hewn emotion and spontaneity of the Twitter posts to survive the translation to a scrupulously produced, high-profile record release. Yet if there’s little that sounds spontaneous here, the feeling of sincerity is never in question, and Ma and his frequent duo partner Kathryn Stott have managed to corral a collection of wide-ranging miniatures into something that feels closer to a recital than a compilation.

That said, I don’t think the overlay of sound effects Graham Fitkin applies to his two versions of the hymn Amazing Grace – a creaking ship beset by strong winds in the album’s prelude and crashing waves in the postlude – adds anything but theatrical distraction. That’s a pity, as the sonic tapestry he weaves through the overdubbing of solo cello parts evokes a longing, dreamlike atmosphere – rather like a modern take on English consort music for viols. And, as it turns out, dreamy wistfulness is one of the album’s unifying themes – not just in the selection of music itself but in the performances and arrangements as well.

William Arms Fisher’s version of ‘Goin’ Home’ (the opening section of the Largo from Dvořák’s New World Symphony), for example, reimagines this well-known excerpt as pure and slender chamber music. Ma’s way with Mariettas Lied from Korngold’s opera Die tote Stadt may be a little too languid for some, but I like how its fragility suggests hearing the aria through the wrong side of a telescope, as it were. Solveig’s Song from Grieg’s Peer Gynt, on the other hand, is played with utter simplicity, and the delicate dance of its central section is marvellously feather-light. Ma and Stott revel in the graceful sentimentality of Poulenc’s ‘Les chemins de l’amour’, giving us salon music at its most exalted.

Other highlights include ‘Shenandoah’, where Caroline Shaw finds a wealth of complexities while preserving the simple character of the original folk song, and Stephen Hough’s reimagining of the popular Russian song ‘Moscow Nights’, which makes it seem that Rachmaninov wrote it. I found ‘Gracias a la vida’ surprisingly moving, thanks to Ma, who makes his tone weather-worn and in doing so touchingly evokes the earthiness of the Argentine folk singer Mercedes Sosa, and similarly caught off guard by the intimacy both players bring to ‘Over the rainbow’. The latter number seems meant to be heard through earbuds, so it’s as if the musicians were whispering directly into your ears. All in all, this album is an unexpected pleasure.

— Andrew Farach-Colton

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Yo-Yo Ma (born 7 October 1955 in Paris) is an American cellist renowned for his exceptional technique and cross-cultural collaborations that broadened classical music's reach. A prodigy, he debuted at Carnegie Hall at 9, studied at Juilliard, and graduated from Harvard in 1977. Celebrated for his interpretations of standard repertoire, he has also explored diverse genres, collaborating with artists from bluegrass to tango. In 1998 he founded the Silk Road Project to promote global artistic exchange. A prolific recording artist, Ma has received numerous prestigious honors, including multiple Grammy Awards.

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Kathryn Stott (born 10 December 1958) is a British pianist. Educated at the Yehudi Menuhin School and the Royal College of Music, she gained early recognition as a prize-winner at the 1978 Leeds International Piano Competition. Over a 46-year career, she collaborated extensively with leading artists, notably Yo-Yo Ma, and recorded an expansive repertoire ranging from Fauré to tango. An influential festival curator and former Artistic Director of the Australian Chamber Music Festival, she concluded her performing career in 2024 and now focuses on teaching and mentoring emerging musicians.

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