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A life is an arc of experience, from beginning to end and all the notes in between. Songs from the Arc of Life is a musical journey shared by Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott, and a window into our universal adventure through life and time.
Longtime friends Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Kathryn Stott create a unique musical experience with their new Sony Classical recording Songs from the Arc of Life, now available.
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“I like to think of Songs from the Arc of Life as an invitation to our audience to remember and imagine what the soundtracks of their lives might be. Kathy and I have talked for years about recording an album of music we absolutely love, pieces that express the context of a life, of our lives. Childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle age, old age: what do they sound like?”
Songs from the Arc of Life begins and ends with two settings of the traditional “Ave Maria,” opening with the Bach/Gounod arrangement and closing with Schubert’s version.
In between is a remarkable spectrum of music that includes Brahms’s “Lullaby,” Dvořák’s “Songs My Mother Taught Me,” Elgar’s “Salut d’amour,” Gade’s “Jalousie” and Saint-Saëns’ “The Swan,” as well as richly evocative works by Debussy, Delius, Fauré, 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.
This all-new recording—to be released internationally beginning September 18, 2015—also celebrates thirty years of friendship and collaboration in concerts and recordings for Ma and Stott. The album includes pieces they have frequently performed but never recorded, as well as a handful of discoveries.
“I love this title, the ‘Arc of Life’ – because it is one big arc. Once we arrived at the idea, we began to see a beautiful story, a journey through life’s experiences. It has taken us a long time and much discussion, back and forth, to discover what that journey might be, because everyone’s journey is slightly different.”
