Yo Yo Ma / Kenneth Cooper

From the late fifteenth century, bowed string instruments were classified according to the manner in which they were held by the player. Viola da Gamba indicated a viol held between the legs or on the lap, in contrast to viola da braccio, a viol held by the arm against the shoulder or chest. In time, the term gamba came to apply solely to a member of the bass viol family.

Today, cello and piano often substitute for the gamba and harpsichord combination of the period, and just as the plucked, terse harpsichord timbre differs from the struck, sustained piano tone, so the gentle, reserved, vibratoless sonority of the gamba distinguished it from the more resonant and powerful cello.

Johann Sebastian Bach's three gamba sonatas, composed c. 1720, may have been intended for Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen (the prince sang bass, played violin, viola da gamba and harpsichord, and maintained his own orchestra) or for Christian Ferdinand Abel, a virtuoso cellist and gambist in Leopold's orchestra.

The first gamba sonata, in G major, BWV 1027, exists in two other avatars: 1) as a trio sonata in G major for two flutes and basso continuo, BWV 1039; 2) a version of the last movement of BWV 1027 as a trio for organ (or pedal harpsichord) alone, BWV 1027a.

The serenely lyrical first movement, Adagio, is a two-part structure whose second part varies the first. The jubilant fugue of the Allegro ma non tanto suggests a concerto. The short, preludelike E-minor Andante is reminiscent of a typical slow movement from a violin concerto by Vivaldi. A powerful three-voice fugue, Alkgro moderato, unwinds in concerto form with ritornelli and contrasting, virtuosic episodes.

The second sonata, in D major, BWV 1028, opens with a brief Adagio dialogue that functions less as a movement than as an introduction to the vivacious second movement, a darcelike Allgro, in which richly chordal textures predominate. The B-minor Andante movement follows the rhythm of a siciliano. The concluding Allegro-two virtuoso solo passages that constitute the climax and lead back to the main material-function somewhat like cadenzas and call to mind the fifth Brandenburg Concerto.

The third sonata, in G minor, BWV 1029, opens like a three-movement Italian Baroque solo concerto, with a fugal Vivace whose theme recalls Vivaldi. In the Adagio, a poignant gamba aria disguises with improvisatory gestures the clear, underlying structure of the movement. In the Allgro ritornello of the vigorous first movement, a three-voice fugue, relentlessly drives forward its two subjects, a motoric idea and a lyric one. In contrast, the "solo episodes" offer new material and homophonic textures.

Since 1963, when the extraordinary young cellist YO-YO MA was invited to appear in "The American Pageant of the Arts" on national television with Leonard Bernstein conducting (an invitation proffered at the recommendation of Pablo Casals), his American career has included appearances with major American orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony, and the Boston and Philadelphia Orchestras. In Europe, he has appeared with such orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan, the Royal Philharmonic, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic and the Orehestre, National de Paris, as well as the Vienna Philharmonic, also under von Karajan. Both his national and international tours also include many solo recitals, as well as chamber music appearances.

Yo-Yo Ma as born on October 7, 1955 in Paris, of Chinese parentage. He began his cello studies with his father at the age of four and gave his first recital at the Institute of Art and Archeology at the University of Paris at the age of six. In 1962 Mr. Ma entered the Juilliard School and has studied with Janos Scholz and with Leonard Rose. He was awarded the highcoveted Avery Fisher Prize in 1978.

"He must be counted in the same category as Starker, Rose, 'Varga, Piafigorsky and Casals' -San Francisco Examiner

"One of the prime talents of our time" -Isaac Stem