RECOMMENDED
It used to be that you could hear Yo-Yo Ma do all six of Bach’s Cello Suites in a single program, or at least across a couple of evenings, but these days, you get half of the suites (we don’t even learn which ones) for twice the price. But, hey, it’s Yo-Yo Ma, it’s Bach, and Rostropovich is dead, so that’s life. Ma has lived with these pieces since he was a young boy and has recorded them all no less than three times across various points in his career, even doing a set of nature films to them. The miracle of these pieces is the way that Bach offers the aural illusion of polyphony by having the cellist traverse the “outline” of counterpoint across the instrument. It’s also worth noting that Ma’s moving performance of Bloch’s “Schelomo” as well as his jamming along with other pieces can be heard on the just-released CSO Resound release “Traditions and Transformations: Sounds of Silk Road Chicago.” (Dennis Polkow)
Tuesday, March 11 at Symphony Center
Related Stories
Never Give Up: A Preview of Fantastic Negrito at Martyrs' When Fantastic Negrito emerged onto the music scene in 2015, he looked to all the world like a new, emerging artist. In fact the man born Xavier Dphrepaulezz—winner of that year’s Tiny Desk Contest for his song and video “Lost in a Crowd,” which showcase a sound that builds upon the blues, but didn’t conform to most people’s ideas about…- Shock Value: A Preview of Last Fantastic Nasty at Quenchers I get the sense that Last Fantastic Nasty are still in that “figuring who we are” phase, where you’ve realized you can get attention by shocking people, but you start thinking long and hard about whether or not you want to. And they do have the musical chops to do well: the songs are metallic and complicated and compelling, even…
- Especially For You: A Preview of the Smithereens at the Memorial Opera House Serious music scholars all, the Smithereens distilled their musical loves into something that ultimately sounded like nobody but them. Diken points to Gary Lewis and the Playboys as an influence; it’s worth noting that the studio cats who played on those records—immortal pop tunes like “Count Me In” —included Leon Russell and drummer Hal Blaine.
- Do It Again: A Preview of Brian Wilson at Horseshoe Hammond While today former bandmate Mike Love leads a group calling itself the Beach Boys, that band features no Brian Wilson. Wilson’s group, on the other hand, includes original Beach Boys member Al Jardine as well as late-prime-era Beach Boy Blondie Chaplin, and is jaw-droppingly facile at recreating the Beach Boys sound.
