Yo-Yo Ma - Simply Baroque II ~ Bach & Boccherini / ABO, Koopman

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
This is the sequel to Yo-Yo Ma's wildly successful Simply Baroque, released last year. Again joined by the excellent Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, with Ton Koopman conducting from the harpsichord, he plays with a baroque bow on his 1712 Stradivarius cello "reconfigured" as a baroque instrument with gut strings and no endpin and tuned a half-tone lower. This gives it a mellower, more subdued sound, though his tone, despite very sparing vibrato, retains its unique expressive warmth and purity. (In concert, he currently performs on his Montagnana cello and one made recently by the well-known American luthiers Moes & Moes.) The program again features two Boccherini concertos and a group of Bach transcriptions for cello and orchestra by Koopman, including the Aria from the Goldberg Variations. These are only intermittently successful and make great demands on the soloist. Ma, of course, meets the demands handily, soaring to stratospheric heights, blending into the orchestra, and weaving figurations around it. The Boccherini concertos are the core of the record, notably the famous B-flat, for which Ma and Koopman went back to the originals in search of a more authentic version than the familiar one (which was actually conflated later from several others by Grützmacher, a cellist and editor). Here, Ma has ample opportunity to display his virtuosity, his charm, and his pleasure in intimate give-and-take with the orchestra; one can almost see him smile. The result is pure delight. --Edith Eisler

Tracks:

Bach: Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan, BWV 75
Aria from "Goldberg Variations," BWV 988
Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BMV 645
Wer nur den lieben Gott laft walten, BMV 647
Die Hoffnung wart' der rechten Zeit, BMV 186
Meine Seele erhebet der Herren, BMV 648
Schafe konnen sicher weiden, BMV 208
Es danke, Gott und lobe dich das Volk in guten Taten, BMV 76
Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ, BMV 649
Boccherini: Concerto in B-flat Major, G. 482
Concerto in D Major, G. 476
Concerto in B Flat Major, G. 482: Rondo - Allegro
Concerto in D Major, G. 476: Allegro
Concerto in D Major, G. 476: Largo
Concerto in D Major, G. 476: Allegro piacere

Amazon.com

This is the sequel to Yo-Yo Ma's wildly successful Simply Baroque, released last year. Again joined by the excellent Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, with Ton Koopman conducting from the harpsichord, he plays with a baroque bow on his 1712 Stradivarius cello "reconfigured" as a baroque instrument with gut strings and no endpin and tuned a half-tone lower. This gives it a mellower, more subdued sound, though his tone, despite very sparing vibrato, retains its unique expressive warmth and purity. (In concert, he currently performs on his Montagnana cello and one made recently by the well-known American luthiers Moes & Moes.) The program again features two Boccherini concertos and a group of Bach transcriptions for cello and orchestra by Koopman, including the Aria from the Goldberg Variations. These are only intermittently successful and make great demands on the soloist. Ma, of course, meets the demands handily, soaring to stratospheric heights, blending into the orchestra, and weaving figurations around it. The Boccherini concertos are the core of the record, notably the famous B-flat, for which Ma and Koopman went back to the originals in search of a more authentic version than the familiar one (which was actually conflated later from several others by Grützmacher, a cellist and editor). Here, Ma has ample opportunity to display his virtuosity, his charm, and his pleasure in intimate give-and-take with the orchestra; one can almost see him smile. The result is pure delight. --Edith Eisler

Customer Reviews:

It's Yo-Yo Ma.......2007-06-11

If you enjoy cello music and classical music, this is a great CD with one of the best cellist's out there. I bought it to hear how these period pieces should sound. I'll be happy if I can even get to half the quality of performance Ya exhibits. If you enjoy classical works and may not have any cello music in particular, this album is a good, enjoyable selection for any collection.

Makes you sleepy.......2007-02-21

This CD offers music from two composers, J. S. Bach and L. Boccherini. Several famous pieces from each composer are included here as performed by Yo Yo Ma. Having heard all the pieces before on other CD's, I did not like the instrumentation offered here. Many of the pieces were quite subtle and played with too little life. The instrumentation was too little as most of these pieces sound better with a whole symphony playing it, where here it was only a couple of instruments. Overall, not that great a CD.

Concerts in a sailboat's cockpit.......2005-10-20

I discovered the first CD of these two when sailing in British Columbia this summer and played it over and over again when sipping wine under fine sunsets in the San Juan and Gulf Islands. There can be no better accompainment to the soft rocking of the boat and a fine wine. This second CD is as wonderful as the first. Pure lisening pleasure.

no that hot.......2001-03-04

I usually love Ma, but I don't know why I am not so hot on both of the new super discks. Perhaps it is the miking. I'm surprised noone mentioned it. My CD player is a Meridian. I would be interested in hearing how this effects the pleasure of listening to CDs.

Yo Yo Ma provides inspirational classical music........2001-02-04

Although I am not a musician or music expert, I can listen to this music many times and not get tired of it. It has the qualities embedded in it which I look for to keep me interested in its passages. Classical music such as this style should be mandatory listening in our school systems which are looking for things worth teaching. The pre-teens minds are being diluted with the current pop music. Our youth have little appreciation for the great things in life.

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