Word: cellist
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...often, the modern citizen instinctively sets aside any abiding appreciation for classical music, saving it for the Sunday matinees of his or her golden years. The names Yo-Yo and Itzhak ring bells for many Americans, but few would immediately recognize the virtues of pianist Max Levinson '93 or cellist Matt Haimovitz '96, both of fairly recent recording fame. It is no wonder that performing artists of a classical bent at Harvard find them-selves on the defensive more often than...
Tcherepnin's students included a number of prominent musicians, such as cellist Yo-Yo Ma '76 and violinist Lynn Chang...
...cellist, Ma is renowned for effortless technique, a rich tone and a masterly feel for interpretation that allows his performances to breathe with an almost jazzlike spontaneity. "Yo-Yo has an ease of playing that is given to very few. It is a kind of mastery that gives one the greatest possible freedom," says violinist Isaac Stern, a onetime mentor of Ma's. "He is probably the most perfect instrumentalist I have ever seen," says Ax. "I spend hours and hours practicing every day. Yo-Yo can afford to sleep late and have lunch, and he still plays much more...
Aside from sheer intellectual curiosity there is a practical reason for Ma's restlessness. "A pianist," says Ax, "could go on playing for 100 years and not begin to play the complete standard repertoire. For a cellist, if you are a talent like Yo-Yo, by the time you are 25 you have mastered all the cello concertos that are known." Through numerous commissions, Ma has done his best to expand the repertoire. Still, he's swimming his laps in a comparatively small pool...
Just what effect, if any, did the filming of Inspired by Bach have on Ma's interpretations? You'd have to ask him. But anyone who watches Falling Down Stairs, the film on the C-major suite, can see how enthusiastically the cellist responds to Morris' fanciful choreography and hear how some of that unfeigned delight has made its way into Ma's rhythmically light-footed performance. Whether on CD or videocassette, it is the best of all possible introductions to Yo-Yo Ma's newly revised version of the Gospel According to Johann Sebastian Bach...