Songs from the Arc of Life : Yo-Yo Ma(Vc)Stott(P)

Longtime friends, cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Kathryn Stott, create a unique classical music experience with their 2015 recording, Songs from the Arc of Life. The album includes pieces they have frequently performed but never recorded, as well as a handful of discoveries. 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, Dvork's Songs My Mother Taught Me, Elgar's Salut d'amour, Gade's Jalousie and Saint-Sans' The Swan, as well as richly evocative works by Debussy, Delius, Faur, 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.