Yo-Yo Ma, pianist Kathryn Stott thrill Milwaukee listeners in recital

When you assume that listening to reside music once more after two years of COVID-19 lockdowns is an excellent expertise, picture the delight musicians are feeling in returning to the stage.

That delight was evident on either side of the footlights on Friday night from the second world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma and his long-time collaborator, British pianist Kathryn Stott, took the Bradley Symphony Middle stage for an artfully programmed recital offered by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

The superbly performed, utterly partaking program opened and closed with units of stand-alone items grouped into units. The pair took barely a breath of time between items within the units, making a fluid, silent little bit of ballet out of the straightforward act of shifting music from the earlier piece out of the best way to learn the music for the subsequent. 

In impact they held the viewers within the palms of their fingers whether or not they had been enjoying or shifting between items.

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With out pauses for applause, the works of the primary set turned a single musical assertion that tugged at one’s coronary heart, all of the extra so as a result of it was carried out by expensive, longtime mates who play along with a snug, pure communication. 

The set consisted of Felix Mendelssohn’s “Music With out Phrases,” the Stephen Hough association of “Scarborough Truthful,” the Caroline Shaw association of “Shenandoah,” and Jean Sibelius’ “Was it a Dream?”

Ernest Bloch’s poignant, modal “From Jewish Life” adopted, performed with the solemnity and urgency of a prayer. This system’s first half closed with a deeply expressive efficiency of Antonin Dvořák’s “4 Romantic Items.” 

This system’s second half opened with a terrifically evocative efficiency of Errollyn Wallen’s “Dervish,” through which each gamers took on the function of percussionists, knocking on their respective devices to create the sound of drum beats.

The ultimate set was constructed of the percolating rhythms and vivid colours of tangos by Cesar Camargo Mariano, Violeta Parra and Astor Piazzolla. Ma and Stott delivered these pleasant items with a mix of musical abandon, technical finesse, and palpable pleasure that elicited foot tapping and head bobbing all through the corridor. 

All through this system, Ma and Stott performed not solely with the musical finesse and technical precision one expects from these two artists, however with a single-minded sense of ensemble that goes past well-rehearsed and clearly marked musical selections to the respect and affection of excellent mates who’ve made music collectively for almost 4 many years — all in all, a grand night.

Returning to the stage with Ma sporting a blue MSO baseball cap, the pair answered a booming, standing ovation with gently sentimental efficiency of Jorge Calandrelli’s association of the 1939 track “We’ll Meet Once more.” One other standing, cheering ovation adopted.