Emanuel Ax & Yo-Yo Ma - A Celebration [21 CDs]

“It has been almost 50 years since I met Yo-Yo in the cafeteria at the Juilliard School… We became friends very quickly and a couple of years later played a benefit concert for a children’s orchestra... I believe that in the life and career of a musician, luck plays an enormous role. The great piece of luck in my musical life has been my partnership with Yo-Yo. I learned most of the standard cello repertoire with him, but through our work together I also learned an enormous amount about all the other music that I was playing – and about sharing my love of music with audiences. Our approaches to learning a new work together started at opposite ends quite often. Yo-Yo always saw the big picture, he thought first about the emotional impact. I often started by asking why the third eighth note in bar 2 had a dot, and the fourth one didn’t. Gradually, we met in the middle. For me, it was revelatory to work in his way, and I hope I did not annoy him too much with my persnickety questions! Our first recordings were the Beethoven Sonatas. We had played them in concert a number of times and thought that we could do a creditable performance on disc. I remember so well the thrill of seeing those LP covers; the pianist is now a white-haired old gentleman, and the cellist looks as young as ever! I am a great lover of Russian music, but never felt that I could play it properly. The albums of Shostakovich, Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev are very special to me as they represent my attempts at music that I adore… When I look at the list of recordings that Yo-Yo and I have done together I feel enormously privileged to have shared in the journey of this unique artist. It was happenstance and great good fortune that gave me this gift, and I am grateful beyond measure for the time we have had together. I hope there are still some years left for me to keep learning from him, and that we continue to have fun exploring together.” (Emanuel Ax)SET CONTENTSDISC 1:Beethoven: Cello Sonata No. 1 in F Major, Op. 5 No. 1 Beethoven: Cello Sonata No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 5 No. 2DISC 2:Beethoven: Cello Sonata No. 4 in C Major, Op. 102 No. 1 Beethoven: 7 Variations on "Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen", WoO 46 Beethoven: 12 Variations in G Major on "See the Conqu'ring Hero Comes", WoO 45 Beethoven: 12 Variations in F Major on "Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen", Op. 66 DISC 3:Beethoven: Cello Sonata No. 3 in A Major, Op. 69 Beethoven: Cello Sonata No. 5 in D Major, Op. 102 No. 2DISC 4:Brahms: Cello Sonata No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 38Brahms: Cello Sonata No. 2 in F Major, Op. 99DISC 5:Brahms: Cello Sonata No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 38Brahms: Cello Sonata No. 2 in F Major, Op. 99 Brahms: Violin Sonata No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 108DISC 6:Schumann: Cello Concerto in A Minor, Op. 129 Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks / Conductor: Sir Colin Davis Schumann: Fantasiestücke, Op. 73 Schumann: Adagio and Allegro, Op. 70 Schumann: 5 Stücke im Volkston, Op. 102 DISC 7:R. Strauss: Cello Sonata in F Major, Op. 6, TrV 115 Britten: Cello Sonata in C Major, Op. 65DISC 8:Prokofiev: Cello Sonata in C Major, Op. 119Rachmaninov: Cello Sonata in G Minor, Op. 19DISC 9:Brahms: Clarinet Trio in A Minor, Op. 114 Beethoven: Piano Trio No. 4 in B-Flat Major, Op. 11 "Gassenhauer" Mozart: Piano Trio in E-Flat Major, K. 498 "Kegelstatt" Clarinet: Richard Stoltzman DISC 10:Chopin: Piano Trio in G Minor, Op. 8 Violin: Pamela Frank Chopin: Introduction et Polonaise brillante in C Major, Op. 3 Chopin: Cello Sonata in G Minor, Op. 65 Chopin: Introduction et Polonaise brillante in C Major, Op. 3 (Transcribed for Piano)Piano: Eva OsinskaDISC 11:Dvořák: Piano Trio No. 3 in F Minor, Op. 65, B. 130 Dvořák: Piano Trio No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 90, B. 166 "Dumky" Violin: Young Uck Kim DISC 12:Shostakovich: Piano Trio No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 67 Violin: Isaac Stern Shostakovich: Cello Sonata in D Minor, Op. 40 DISC 13:Mozart: Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-Flat Major, K. 493 Mozart: Piano Quartet No. 1 in G Minor, K. 478 Violin: Isaac Stern Viola: Jaime Laredo DISC 14:Beethoven: Piano Quintet in E-Flat Major, Op. 16 (Version for Piano Quartet) Schumann: Piano Quartet in E-Flat Major, Op. 47 Violin: Isaac Stern Viola: Jaime Laredo DISC 15:Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25 Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 60 Violin: Isaac Stern Viola: Jaime Laredo DISC 16:Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 26 Violin: Isaac Stern Viola: Jaime Laredo DISC 17:Dvořák: Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-Flat Major, Op. 87, B. 162 Violin: Isaac Stern Viola: Jaime Laredo Brahms: Sonata in D Major for Cello and Piano, Op. 78 (arr. from the Sonata in G Major for Violin and Piano) DISC 18:Fauré: Piano Quartet No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 15 Fauré: Piano Quartet No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 45 Violin: Isaac Stern Viola: Jaime Laredo DISC 19:Schubert: Piano Quintet in A Major, D. 667, Op. 114 "Trout" Violin: Pamela Frank Bass: Edgar Meyer Viola: Rebecca Young Schubert: Arpeggione Sonata in A Minor, D. 821 Schubert: Die Forelle, D. 550, Op. 32 Soprano: Barbara BonneyDISC 20:Lieberson: King Gesar Conductor: Peter Lieberson Percussion: Stefan Hüge Piano: Peter Serkin Flute: Andras Adorjan Clarinet: Deborah Marshall French Horn: William Purvis Trombone: David Taylor Corigliano: Phantasmagoria DISC 21:Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 49 Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 2 in C Minor Op. 66 Mendelssohn: Songs without Words, Op. 19, No. 1 "Sweet Remembrance" - Andante con moto Mendelssohn: Songs without Words, Op. 38, No. 6 "Duetto" - Andante con moto Mendelssohn: Songs without Words, Op. 38, No. 2 - Allegro non troppo Violin: Itzhak Perlman Mendelssohn: Songs without Words, Op. 62, No. 1 - Andante espressivo Mendelssohn: Song without Words, Op. 109 Beethoven: Piano Trio No. 4 in D Major, Op. 70, No. 1 "Ghost": II. Largo assai ed espressivo (excerpt)Violin: Pamela Frank