Track Listing

1. Allegretto
2. Moderato - Cadenza - Allegro con moto
3. Allegro
4. Largo
5. Allegretto

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #176246 in Music
• Released on: 1990-10-25
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com essential recording
One of his first major concerto recordings, this excellent disc established Yo-Yo Ma as a major voice in the world of classical music. Sony--then Columbia--took no chances with this production, featuring both the finest modern cello concerto (Shostakovich) as well as first class accompaniments from Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra--the very same forces that recorded the piece with Mstislav Rostropovich in the presence of the composer himself. Ma had nothing to fear from the comparison. Superb. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews

Yo-Yo Ma at his best
Yo-Yo Ma is certainly at his technical best, and he conveys these two 20th-century concertos with great understanding and feeling. The Philadelphia Orchestra under Ormandy flows nicely with Ma. The Shostakovich Concerto (1957) is technically impossible, it seems, but Ma pulls it off! This post-Stalin work is a statement to the horrors of that dictator's era, and the 2nd movement 'a capella' will take your breath away! The Kabalevsky Concerto is a very intriguing work by a little-known composer. Very nice.

The person who wrote that this CD is bad is wrong
The person thinks that he knows a lot. But in fact, he is just trying to sound smart. Shostakovich wrote this cello concerto for Rostropovich, who plays it a little faster. Shostakovich was the one who told Rostropovich to play it the speed that he played it. So, how can Yo-Yo Ma's tempo be too fast if he plays it a bit slower? The answer is that the negative reviewer is wrong. Search for Rostropovich's recording of this and you will see what I mean if you sample listen to it.

A Landmark of Sorts--and a Pair of Fine Performances to Boot
I guess in fairness I should dig out this recording and try to track down the flub (in the horn section) mentioned by one of the reviewers on this page. It might well be there, but that wouldn't negate the positive features documented on this disc. First, Ma plays with a suavity and depth of feeling that don't always come together in the work of a cellist. Often it's one of the other. Here, we have two for the price of one. Then there is the usually fine support by Ormandy and his orchestra. On this recording it is every bit as fine as ever, as I recall, the observation of the other reviewer notwithstanding.

Another important consideration is the pairing. Most collectors will get this CD for the Shostakovich, and it is by far the more famous work. But Kabalevsky's Concerto is a revelation. Written for performance by youthful players, it has much of the insouciant charm of Prokofiev's Seventh Symphony and just shows, again, what fine music Soviet composers were able to produce under often stultifying political constraints.

Last of all, this is far and away the finest sound recording Sony/Columbia ever accorded the Philadelphia Orchestra. That has to count for something, especially given the lofty musical qualities in evidence.