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Songs of Comfort and Hope
Yo-Yo Ma (cello)
Kathryn Stott (piano)
Rec. Mechanics Hall, Worcester, USA, 2020
SONY 19439822372 [79:01]

Five years ago Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott issued an album titled Songs from the Arc of Life. The programme consisted of mainly melodious, well-known and easy-to-digest short bon-bons, beginning and ending with Ave Maria, the beginning by Bach-Gounod, the end by Franz Schubert. My colleague Paul Corfield Godfrey’s review was mildly hesitant, insofar as this in effect was just another collection of classical pops that hopefully would sell well but hardly added much to the profiles of two superb musicians. In the end Paul of course admired the playing and also appreciated that there were some unexpected pieces, among them music by Delius and Messiaen, by the latter a substantial movement from the iconic work Quartet for the end of Time. I have to admit that when I opened the meagre inlay to this sequel I got the same feeling of déjà-vu. The great difference was that on the new disc Ma/Stott had basically left the classical music arena in preference for the popular music scene in an extended sense. Amazing Grace, Ol’ Man River, Over the Rainbow, Gracias a la Vida, We’ll Meet Again and others is also a trip down Memory Lane – only that they throw their net wider and also include a Zulu lullaby (Yo-Yo Ma’s interest in World Music is well documented – not least through his cooperation with the international Silk Road Ensemble) and composers as widely apart as Ernest Bloch and Chinese rock star and classical musician Wu Tong. The latter is also a member of the Silk Road Ensemble. An important feature is also that Ma/Stott have invited a good handful of contemporary musicians and composers to provide the arrangements, some of them better known than others: Graham Fitkin, Roderick Williams, Caroline Shaw, William Arms Fisher, Stephen Hough, Tom Poster and Jorge Calandrelli. To some listeners who prefer more traditional arrangements this may be a hindrance to appreciate the music, since some of the harmonies are a little knotty, but to the majority of the prospective consumers this shouldn’t be a problem. On the other hand there are also already existing, well established arrangements. A somewhat contrasting couple is the two traditional Irish songs, The Last Rose of Summer, arranged by Benjamin Britten and Londonderry Air in Kreisler’s famous version. Another couple is the two arrangements by Jorge Calandrelli. Violeta Parra’s touching farewell to life Gracias a la Vida (she took her own life shortly afterwards) and the Vera Lynn classic We’ll Meet Again, refreshing to hear in a jazzy reading to avoid too much sentimentality.

Where misgivings begin to creep in is in the concept. I quote from the foreword: “Songs of Comfort and Hope was conceived in April 2020 when people everywhere were entering a dramatic new world, one in which we have been separated from our loved ones and many have been filled with fear and isolation. We hope that the familiarity and reinvention contained in this music offers you some comfort and hope.” I deeply share this wish, since music often is a more direct comforter than psychologists, therapists and sedative. Here though so much of the music is extremely slow, extremely soft and almost 80 minutes at somnambulistic pace becomes in the long run too much of a good thing. Let me moderate this verdict at once: After the first nine tracks one feels almost suffocated by the subdued atmosphere – in spite of excellent playing. Goin’ Home beautiful but never-ending, Wu Tong’s Rain Falling from the Roof immensely beautiful as well. I felt there was too much comfort and too little hope. Then comes Mendelssohn’s Op 109 as a breath of fresh air and blows life into the proceedings and the mental haze begins to lighten. Poulenc’s charming waltz Les Chemins de l’Amour brings hope, the fascinating but short Zulu lullaby, Thula Baba, breathes rebirth and Britten’s setting of The Last Rose of Summer promises that after the approaching winter there will come a new spring – that’s my way of interpreting the brief rhythmic lilt in the last stanza. Londonderry Air, in Kreisler’s arrangement, but slower than Kreisler’s own recording from 1938, builds a bridge to Calandrelli’s two arrangements, where We’ll Meet Again promises new post-pandemic life without Covid-19 restrictions, whereupon the crescendo of Graham Fitkin’s windy production of Amazing Grace becomes a jubilant exclamation mark: Freedom is near!

Without going into detailed comments on all the individual pieces I believe that most readers can form their own idea whether this will be a disc to their personal taste. It is a many manifold programme that covers many sentiments and styles and many of the melodies are wonderful, even though I wouldn’t necessarily want to hear them again within this particular context. Marietta’s Lied from Die tote Stadt is just one example.

It goes without saying that with these two eminent musicians in charge the quality of the playing is in the safest of hands. I only wish that the presentation was less sloppy. In the previous album there was a long essay where the two discussed the various pieces, here there is only a short foreword from the artists and well deserved dedications to children and grandchildren and thanks to all others involved in the production, a list of the titles of each piece but without timings (not even the total timing is printed, as far as I can find). It is after all a full-price issue from a major company!

I derived a lot of pleasure from this disc and will certainly return to some of the pieces when I am in the right mood, but I regret the sloppy presentation.

Göran Forsling


Contents
1. Trad. Amazing Grace
2. KERN Ol’ Man River
3. Trad. Shenandoah
4. DVOŘÁK Goin’ Home
5. BLOCH Jewish Song
6. RACHMANINOFF Zdes’ khorosho
7. SOLOVYOV-SEDOI Moscow Nights
8. ARLEN Over the Rainbow
9. TONG Rain Falling from the Roof
10. MENDELSSOHN Song Without Words
11. SDRAULIG Fantasia on Walzing Matilda
12. Trad. Scarborough Fair
13. GRIEG Solveig’s Song
14. POULENC Les Chemins de l‘Amour
15. KORNGOLD Marietta’s Lied
16. Trad. Thula Baba
17. Trad. The Last Rose of Summer
18. Trad. Londonderry Air
19. PARRA Gracias a la Vida
20. PARKER – CHARLES We’ll Meet Again
21. Trad. Amazing Grace, Postlude