While I love a range of music as I’ve gotten older I’ve come to appreciated easy listening and classical much more. It soothes my brain on days it’s full of combustion. Grabbing a glass of wine, and laying my head back to the sounds of Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott is a great reprieve from the day. Their new album Songs From The Arc of Life has become one of my favorites and my kids have even been keeping me company while I listen. It music for all ages.
Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Kathryn Stott create a unique classical music experience with their new Sony Classical recording Songs from the Arc of Life available September 18, 2015. This all-new recording also celebrates thirty years of friendship and collaboration in concerts and recordings for Ma and Stott. The album includes pieces they have frequently performed but never recorded, as well as a handful of discoveries.
“I like to think of Songs from the Arc of Life as an invitation to our audience to remember and imagine what the soundtracks of their lives might be,” Yo-Yo Ma says. “Kathy and I have talked for years about recording an album of music we absolutely love, pieces that express the context of a life, of our lives. Childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle age, old age: what do they sound like?”
“I love this title,” Stott says, “the ‘Arc of Life’ – because it is one big arc. Once we arrived at the idea, we began to see a beautiful story, a journey through life’s experiences. It has taken us a long time and much discussion, back and forth, to discover what that journey might be, because everyone’s journey is slightly different.”
Songs from the Arc of Life begins and ends with two, much-beloved settings of the traditional “Ave Maria,” opening with the soaring, radiant Bach/Gounod arrangement and closing with Schubert’s more serene, contemplative version.
In between is a remarkable spectrum of music that includes such enduring favorites as Brahms’ “Lullaby,” Dvořák’s “Songs My Mother Taught Me,” Elgar’s “Salut d’amour,” Gade’s “Jalousie” and Saint-Saëns’ “The Swan,” as well as richly evocative works by Debussy, Delius, Fauré, Gershwin, Grieg, Kriesler, Messaien, Schumann, Sibelius and Tchaikovsky. Ma and Stott also include a haunting piece by the contemporary composer Giovanni Sollima, a friend and colleague of both artists.
In addition to beginning his fourth decade of collaboration with Stott, Yo-Yo Ma is celebrating a milestone birthday this year. “Turning sixty has me wondering what the future might bring, but also reflecting on what has passed,” Ma says. “Kathy and I have known one another since we were in our twenties. We have a shared performing history and thousands of conversations and experiences and we’re delighted, through Songs from the Arc of Life, to share them with you.”
Sony Music Masterworks comprises Masterworks, Sony Classical, OKeh, Portrait, Masterworks Broadway and Flying Buddha imprints. For email updates and information please visit www.sonymusicmasterworks.com.
TRACK LIST
- Bach/Gounod: Ave Maria
- Brahms:Lullaby
- Dvořák: Songs My Mother Taught Me
- Fauré: Papillon
- Gade: Tango Jalousie
- Schumann: I. Vanitas vanitatum (from Five Pieces in the Popular Style)
- Sibelius: Was It a Dream?
- Fauré: Après un rêve
- Elgar: Salut d’amour
- Gershwin: Prelude No. 1
- Delius: Romance for Cello and Piano
- Kreisler: La Gitana
- Sollima: Il bell’Antonio, Tema III
- Saint-Saëns: The Swan (from Carnival of the Animals)
- Grieg: The Wounded Heart (from Elegiac Melodies)
- Tchaikovsky: Valse sentimentale, Op. 51, No. 6
- Messiaen: Louange à l’éternité de Jésus (from Quartet for the End of Time)
- Debussy: Beau Soir
- Schubert: Ave Maria
I would love to have a 2 Cellos CD!
A Christmas Story Musical sounds great!
Christmas story musical would be great. Thank you
A CHORUS LINE – 40TH ANNIVERSARY
Thanks for the contest.
Kat Edmonson “The Big Picture”
I want to hear a CD by Joshua Bell.
I would like the Kat Edmonson “The Big Picture”
A Christmas Story Musical looks good too
i like joshua bell
A Christmas Story Musical looks good
I would love an album by “2 cellos”. Their classical interpretations of modern songs are great!
P.S. Their current album is Celloverse – it’s at the top of my Christmas list.
I would also like the Dolly Parton CD.
I’m interested in artist Liam Bailey
I would like to have the 2CELLOS CD.
I would like the Christmas Story Musical
I’d love to have the 1776 broadway album.
I would like A CHORUS LINE – 40TH ANNIVERSARY.