Some use the words gob-smacked or mesmerized to describe a musician with preternatural talent, but Yo-Yo Ma renders such adjectives useless. In fact, the world’s most popular cellist commands an emotional response free of description, as his performances are best appreciated without the clutter of words in their wake.
That doesn’t make my assignment any easier, and I’d rather share a video link of Ma’s performance with The Florida Orchestra at Ruth Eckerd Hall over the weekend and let it go at that. I have felt this way every time I experience Ma on stage.
On Friday night, Ma headlined the annual TFO fundraiser, playing an audience favorite: Antonin Dvořák’s evergreen Cello Concerto in B Minor, with Music Director Michael Francis conducting.
On paper, Dvořák seemed too obvious a choice. Like the composer’s New World Symphony, the concerto’s musical tires are worn well beyond the tread. But Ma didn’t agree to play a warhorse for the comfort of familiarity. He chose it because he has something new to say, and his performance spoke volumes about his interpretive resources.
Years ago, I asked Ma about how he approaches such well-known works, and how he stands behind the piece, not in front of it − where his fame would be a distraction.
“One of the things I try to do is not try to wow an audience or think about my popular success, but how music works from one person’s ear to another person’s ear,” he told me. “It’s a one-on-one thing. You reach one person at a time. What I do is try to be present. It’s sort of like, this is what I have to report and what I’ve learned from my life and what I can bring through the sounds I make.”
Ma, who turns 70 in October, has been making an impact with his sounds for five decades, evident in more than 120 albums (including 19 Grammy Award winners) that range from iconic renditions of the Western classical canon to jazz to bluegrass to country. His three complete recordings of the Bach Cello Suites since the mid-1980s illustrate his growth and desire to re-examine a masterpiece at different stages of his life.
To open the night, Francis – now in his 10th season at the podium − led the orchestra in Don Juan, Richard Strauss’ first major tone poem, a virtuosic workout for not only each section, but every instrument. As a segue between the Strauss and marquee work, the orchestra dove into one of its “mystery’’ pieces, a lively Slavonic Dance by Dvořák.
Ma then appeared on stage to rolling applause from the sold-out house and engaged with Francis in light banter before immersing himself – and listeners – for the next 40 minutes. Dvořák composed what is essentially a symphony for the cello, a full-throttled dialog full of lush tuttis, a lyrical middle section and an exuberant coda, and Ma and orchestra blended effortlessly throughout each movement. Where this music can be overtly brawny, the forces on stage spun phrases with crystal precision, and always in impassioned reverie. As he does so well, Ma disappeared into the music, letting his 1712 Stradivarius tell Dvořák’s epic story.
Friday’s fundraiser started off with a big announcement: two separate gifts of $1 million each to the orchestra, setting the stage for a new era of growth and impact in the Tampa Bay community. These transformational contributions come from donor Edward Kaloust and from another who wishes to remain anonymous. This is the first time the orchestra has received two such substantial gifts from multiple donors in the same year.
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Kurt Loft is a journalist and arts writer who has covered classical music in Florida for more than 40 years. A member of the Music Critics Association of North America, he lives in St. Petersburg.
Photo by Andi Tafelski
