Arts & Events

In an eclectic program, cellist Yo Yo Ma and pianist Kathryn Stott gave a concert Thursday evening, May 12, at Davies Hall. Longtime collaborators in both live performances and recordings, Yo Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott have a wonderful feel for each other’s musicianship. They opened this program with five pieces from something they term the “Arc of Life Suite,” which they recorded in 2015. However, as with many of Yo Yo Ma’s themed projects, this grouping seems a bit arbitrary and forced, though he sees it “as an invitation to our audience to remember and imagine what the soundtracks of their lives might be…. Childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle age, old age: what do they sound like?” Personally, I can’t imagine anyone’s life having this group of works as its soundtrack; but, oh well, there’s beautiful music here, and, anyway, Yo Yo Ma often stretches the point of his themed projects way out of proportion.  

The “Arc of Life Suite” opened with a version of Charles Gounod’s Ave Maria for piano and cello, which offers Gounod’s transformation of J.S. Bach’s famous C Major prelude. Ms. Stott and Mr. Ma began this familiar piece softly, then gradually built up the power. Next on the program was a song by Jean Sibelius, “Var det en dröm?” (“Was it a dream?”) This was a passionate love song whose melody throbbed in the cello while the piano offered a syncopated accompaniment. This work was followed by Tango Jalousie, by Danish composer Jacob Gade (1879-1963). This piece, by the way, was the basis of a popular song in America of the 1950s, whose title, if I recall, was simply “Jealousy,” in which a male crooner sang “Jealousy, night and day you torture me,” and in which he closed by singing “It’s only the tango you love.” (The words of this song kept coming back to me as Stott and Ma played Gade’s original work, strongly rooted in Argentine tango.) Next on the program, and for me the highlight of this group, was Claude Debussy’s Beau Soir (Beautiful Evening). This is an early work of Debussy’s from around 1880, and it offers rich harmonies and a wistful, moody evocation of twilight. Unlike the other pieces in this “Arc of Life Suite,” Beau Soir is not in the least showy. Rather, it is understated yet masterful in its coloration, redolent of that mysterious moment when darkness approaches. The final work in this set was another Ave Maria, this one the famous version by Franz Schubert. All the works in this set were beautifully played by Ms. Stott and Mr. Ma, so it was a pleasure to hear them, even if the effort to string them together as an “Arc of Life” seemed far-fetched. 

The concert continued with Dimitri Shostakovich’s Sonata in D minor for Cello and Piano, Opus 40. This work, which dates from 1934, had its premiere in the Leningrad Conservatory on Christmas day, 1934. It baffled musicians and audiences alike at its premiere, but soon gained acceptance and recognition. Cellist Mstislav Rostropovich became a leading exponent of this piece, which he recorded with Shostakovich himself on piano. Much of the writing for cello in this sonata falls in the instrument’s high range. The high-pitched buzzing of the cello in the second movement was considered a radical departure at the time, and still sounds radical to us today. The pizzicato plucking of the cello later accompanies the lead taken by the piano. Then a walking motif by the piano introduces a new departure. The slow, leisurely Largo is a lovely lyrical movement. The Allegro finale is both turbulent and bouncy, with frequent sonorous chords sounding in the piano. It was Kathryn Stott’s formidable technique that stood out for me in this sonata, as well as Yo Yo Ma’s ability to move effortlessly back and forth from the extreme high notes of his instrument to its burnished low registers.  

After intermission, Ms. Stott and Mr. Ma returned to play Giovanni Sollima’s Il bell’Antonio. Sollima, a Sicilian by birth, composed this music for a 2005 TV miniseries remake of the 1960 film Il bell’Antonio, which featured Marcello Mastroianni as a playboy with sexual hangups. Giovanni Sollima, a cellist himself, has often performed this work with Kathryn Stott. It begins in a minimalist vein, then gradually builds up in intensity in a series lyrical variations. Ultimately, the music becomes quite excited, almost hysterical, one might say. Eventually, however, it calms down for a quietly resigned ending. Yo Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott exerted themselves effectively in conveying the psychosexual drama behind this music. 

The final work on the program was César Franck’s well-loved Sonata in A Major for Violin and Piano. Playing Franck’s original violin version on cello, Yo Yo Ma gave a richly rewarding performance, but I missed the more brilliant tone of the violin. Meanwhile, Kathryn Stott gave this work an impassioned reading, at times soft and lyrical, at other times, forceful and compelling. When the work was finished, the audience gave the musicians a rousing standing ovation, in which I joined. Having had a long day, I left after Kathryn Stott and Yo Yo Ma had taken their second bow, not waiting to see if they would play an encore.