Choose artist...
Stories   >   Yo-Yo Ma talks to Alexis Ffrench asking....'What makes it classical?' in GRAMOPHONE: Video of the Day

Stories for December 08, 2024

Top 10 for Dec

More Albums with Alexis Ffrench

Yo-Yo Ma talks to Alexis Ffrench asking....'What makes it classical?' in GRAMOPHONE: Video of the Day

Posted: November 6, 2023

Yo-Yo Ma's multi-faceted career is testament to his enduring belief in culture's power to generate trust and understanding. Whether performing new or familiar works from the cello repertoire, collaborating with communities and institutions to explore culture's role in society, or engaging unexpected musical forms, Yo-Yo strives to foster connections that stimulate the imagination and reinforce our humanity.

In August 2018, Yo-Yo began a new journey, setting out to perform Johann Sebastian Bach's six suites for solo cello in one sitting in 36 locations around the world, iconic venues that encompass our cultural heritage, our current creativity, and the challenges of peace and understanding that will shape our future.

The Bach Project continues Yo-Yo's lifelong commitment to stretching the boundaries of genre and tradition to explore music as a means not only to share and express meaning, but also as his contribution to a conversation about how culture can help us to imagine and build a stronger society and a better future.

It was this belief that inspired Yo-Yo to establish Silkroad, a collective of artists from around the world who create music that engages their many traditions. Through his work with Silkroad, as well as throughout his career, Yo-Yo Ma has sought to expand the classical cello repertoire, frequently performing lesser-known music of the 20th century and commissions of new concertos and recital pieces. He has premiered works by a diverse group of composers, among them Osvaldo Golijov, Leon Kirchner, Zhao Lin, Christopher Rouse, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Giovanni Sollima, Bright Sheng, Tan Dun, and John Williams.

As musicians, we transcend technique in order to seek out the truths in our world in a way that gives meaning and sustenance to individuals and communities. That's art for life's sake.

In addition to his work as a performing artist, Yo-Yo partners with communities and institutions from Chicago to Guangzhou to develop programs that champion culture's power to transform lives and forge a more connected world. Among his many roles, Yo-Yo is as a UN Messenger of Peace, the first artist ever appointed to the World Economic Forum's board of trustees, and a member of the board of Nia Tero, the US-based nonprofit working in solidarity with Indigenous peoples and movements worldwide.

Yo-Yo's discography of over 100 albums (including 18 Grammy Award winners) reflects his wide-ranging interests. In addition to his many iconic renditions of the Western classical canon, he has made several recordings that defy categorization, among them "Appalachia Waltz" and "Appalachian Journey" with Mark O'Connor and Edgar Meyer, and two Grammy-winning tributes to the music of Brazil, "Obrigado Brazil" and "Obrigado Brazil - Live in Concert." Yo-Yo's recent recordings include: "Sing Me Home," with the Silkroad Ensemble, which won the 2016 Grammy for Best World Music Album; "Brahms: The Piano Trios," with Emanuel Ax and Leonidas Kavakos; "Six Evolutions - Bach: Cello Suites;" and "Not Our First Goat Rodeo," with Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, and Chris Thile. Yo-Yo's latest album is "Songs of Comfort and Hope," created and recorded with pianist Kathryn Stott in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Contemporary composer and pianist Alexis Ffrench reached beyond British classical music's core audience by mixing his classical background with roots and R&B. In a conscious move to dissolve the genre's boundaries Ffrench embraced contemporary styles, modern formats, and performance spaces not commonly associated with classical music. His 2018 single "Bluebird" illustrated his melodic, soulful style often repudiated in the classical world.

Raised in Bagshot, Surrey, in a strict Catholic household, Ffrench began to learn piano at the age of four and was a church organist at seven. He later earned scholarships to study at the Purcell School for Young Musicians in 1981, the Royal Academy of Music, and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. His first success was as a solo pianist in 1992 following his win at the first Portobello Concert Artists Awards. That same year, he made his concerto debut in Simon Rattle's Towards the Millennium, series where he performed "Rhapsody in Blue" at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. His recording career began in 2006 with Piano Diaries and a series of albums followed throughout the 2000s and into the 2010s. Unlike many classical composers whose music was most commonly found in physical formats, Ffrench made a concerted effort to push his music through streaming services more commonly associated with popular music. Along with his modern approach to the distribution of his work, Ffrench also sought to challenge preconceived notions of classical music's style and performance by integrating soul into his compositions and presenting his work at Latitude Festival. After signing to Sony in 2017 he put out a cover of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and the single "Bluebird." The following year, Ffrench released the album Evolution.


GRAMOPHONE Jonathan Whiting writes….Cellist Yo-Yo Ma asks why 'classical music' has the name it does - and what questions that raises In today's video of the day Yo-Yo Ma talks to Alexis Ffrench about why the term 'classical' is affixed to such a wide variety of music, and yet is not considered world music.

What we call our genre is a dilemma that has faced classical music artists, critics, promoters and academics for many years. The term 'classical' itself is ambiguous: as well as covering the entire art form, it specifically relates to the music of Mozart, Haydn and their 18th contrary contemporaries - as well as, in a more general context, the ancient world of antiquity! Listen below as one of today's leading cellists and thinkers on music explores the theme. 

WATCH THE VIDEO