Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conductor Andris Nelsons - CD Review, June 15th, 2025

On April 25th, 2025, the Deutsche Grammophon label released the album signed by Yo-Yo Ma and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Andris Nelsons, which includes the two concertos for cello and orchestra by Dmitri Shostakovich, the composer commemorated this year, 50 years after his death. Moreover, under the signature of this American orchestra conducted by the Latvian Andris Nelsons, the complete cycle of Shostakovich's symphonies has already been released, a series that has already received several Grammy Awards and which was reissued on March 28th, together with the newly recorded concertos for piano, violin, cello and orchestra, along with the opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. On April 25th, the separate disc containing the two concertos for cello and orchestra was also released, recorded in October 2023 in the orchestra's hall in Boston, which enjoys exceptional acoustics.

On April 24th, 2025, Yo-Yo Ma and the Boston Symphony Orchestra performed at Carnegie Hall in New York a concert whose program included the first concertant opus by Dmitri Shostakovich. I will quote from the review written by Susan Stempleski for Bachtrack:

"After coming on stage, Yo-Yo Ma took the microphone and told the audience that Shostakovich's son, Maxim, was in the hall. Then, he recalled a quote attributed to Stalin: A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic. Then he added: We will play Shostakovich so that no death will ever again be a statistic; this concert is dedicated to all those who have suffered a loss: the death of a loved one, the loss of health or of freedom.

Yo-Yo Ma has a long history with the first concerto by Dmitri Shostakovich. In 1984, it was one of his first major recordings, made together with the Philadelphia Orchestra and conductor Eugene Ormandy; he played this work for the first time with the Boston Orchestra in 1987, and has performed it many times since. And he began to play: the intensity of expression immediately captivated, Yo-Yo Ma leaving us an absolutely moving interpretation.

The two concertos for cello and orchestra by Shostakovich are essential works of the 20th-century cello repertoire. Both are connected to the famous cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, for whom they were written - the first in 1959, the second in 1966. The first concerto is recognized as one of the most difficult ever written for the cello; the second, more introspective, was premiered on September 25th, 1966, as a gift for Shostakovich's 60th birthday.

Yo-Yo Ma, today 69 years old, of course has a long history behind him related to the interpretation of Shostakovich's concertos. And it is interesting that a Chinese-French artist penetrates so easily into the depth of the score, into all the subtleties hidden in the work of a composer used to conveying through his music a double message - one aligned with official politics and another with a nuance of dissent toward the policy of the Soviet communist state. In any case, we also recognize in the interpretation of Shostakovich's Concerto No. 2 the intention expressed by Yo-Yo Ma at the April 24th concert in New York: that of speaking about the tragedy of every individual destiny destroyed by dictatorship and oppression.