Yo-Yo Ma – Obrigado Brazil: Live in Concert

Music Reviews Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma – Obrigado Brazil: Live in Concert

The road to Hell is paved with well-intentioned classical “crossover” albums. But here Yo-Yo Ma displays—in a well-paced live recording of material from his two earlier Latin-tinged records—an eclecticism that’s both honorable and delicious. With help from beloved Brazilian singer/guitarist Rosa Passos, Cuban clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera, guitarist duo the Assad brothers and pianist Kathryn Stott—names familiar to fans of Latin and chamber music—the über-cellist gives us live performances of diverse works by Antonio Carlos Jobim (of “Girl From Ipanema” fame), Astor Piazolla, D’Rivera and others. On the faster, more danceable numbers (Piazzolla’s “Libertango”) the cellist is bolstered by the vitality of his collaborators. The slower numbers, meanwhile, offer a lovely, perfectly shaped melancholy, a tonal color of vivid oxblood.

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