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Stories   >   Yo-Yo Ma, Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer - Bach Trios / popmatters review

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Yo-Yo Ma, Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer - Bach Trios / popmatters review

Posted: April 13, 2017

The music of Johann Sebastian Bach is a great unifier. Regardless of musical upbringing or primary influence, it would be difficult to encounter a musician who does not in some way fall under the spell of the Baroque master's 1,000-plus compositions. Additionally, the elegant symmetry and complex-yet-accessible weaving of counterpoint and melody often makes Bach's music open to endless interpretations. Because of this, any odd or unique new arrangement of a Bach piece is rarely greeted skeptically. Like some universal power cable, Bach's music can fit anywhere. That's part of its beauty.

The combination of cellist Yo-Yo Ma, mandolinist Chris Thile and bassist Edgar Meyer is hardly the most unusual group of musicians to gather for a recording of Bach's music, but there is a refreshing uniqueness that, to some degree, sets it apart from the usual solo recordings or chamber ensembles that seem to come down the pike on a regular basis. Ma and Meyer have collaborated on countless occasions over the course of many years (both with and without the music of Bach), Thile and Meyer have recorded as a duo, and Thile joined Ma and Meyer in the past as a guest on Ma's Songs of Joy and Peace. The three were also joined by a fourth musician-bluegrass multi-instrumentalist Stuart Duncan-for 2011's The Goat Rodeo Sessions. But this new collection of Bach works marks the first time that Ma, Thile and Meyer have released an entire album strictly as a trio.  READ THE FULL PopMatters ARTICLE