By Editorial Staff

Over the years, Yo-Yo Ma has been described in ever-growing superlatives as “the leading cellist of his generation” and “the greatest cellist alive today.” Richard Dyer of the Boston Globe even went so far as to say that “today it is probably true that nobody plays any instrument better than Yo-Yo Ma plays the cello.” It’s a shock then to read the Detroit Free Press and find John Guinn referring to him as a “musical malcontent.” And yet Ma is indeed that—in the best sense of the term.

For if to be an artist means to be constantly dissatisfied with one’s level of achievement, to continue to challenge, to refuse to accept the status quo, Ma epitomizes the artistic goal. Scarcely two weeks into 1991, he took a seat on stage at Carnegie Hall, lifted his bow, and dug into what is arguably any instrumentalist’s most herculean challenge—performing all six Bach Cello Suites back to back with only a short dinner break. Ma’s marathon turned out to be one of the most memorable concerts of the season, one that Tim Page of New York Newsday called “an eloquent sermon, a reaffirmation of the highest human values.”

Seven months later, the musically restless Ma was at Tanglewood premiering Begin Again Again, a work for “hypercello” that he had commissioned from Tod Machover that makes use of the latest in computer technology. Through a network of sensors attached to Ma’s right hand and forearm that relays information about the performer’s movements to an interactive computer program and creates musical responses, Ma was able to vary his articulation, dynamics, and bow pressure to conjure up a colorful palette of electronic sounds. And when Ma wasn’t performing at Tanglewood, he spent his time working with students at Tanglewood’s Berkshire Music Center. Indeed, his experience at Tanglewood in 1989, as teacher and artist, was chronicled in a two-part documentary seen on the Arts & Entertainment Network and BBC Television.

Born in Paris in 1955, Ma began cello lessons at the age of four with his father, whose teaching method proved fortuitous. Rather than emphasizing long hours of practice for his young son, Ma senior focused on developing intense concentration and understanding the musical structure. While his father was analytical and intellectual, his mother, a mezzo-soprano, was more emotional. Ma’s playing in turn embodies the best of these qualities.

At seven, Ma had already performed under Leonard Bernstein, and when he was nine, he went off to study at Juilliard’s pre-college program with Leonard Rose for six years. Rose, he says, “wanted me to have the discipline to be able to do anything he would ask for.” It turned out to be a wish fulfilled and then some.

Deciding against the more limiting conservatory route, Ma chose to study at Harvard as a liberal-arts major, even while he maintained an active concert schedule. The cellist, who was just awarded an honorary degree from his alma mater, traces his extra-musical development to his Harvard years. During this period, he says that he “began to evolve from being just a cellist to being a musician interested in sharing and communicating with people.”

Certainly, he has never been afraid to share the spotlight and he delights in chamber-music performances, noting that “alone on tour you can get very self-centered.” During the past two seasons, he has joined Isaac Stern, Jaime Laredo, Cho-Liang Lin, Michael Tree, and Sharon Robinson for performances and recordings of the Fauré and Brahms Piano Quartets and Brahms String Sextets. And, with frequent collaborator Emanuel Ax, he has recently recorded sonatas for cello and piano by Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, and Brahms. Nor is his repertoire on Sony Classical, with whom he has an exclusive contract, limited to the standards. Upcoming releases for the five-time Grammy winner include Korngold’s Suite, the Stephen Albert Cello Concerto commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra, and a wide-ranging album with singer Bobby McFerrin that will include a children’s piece.

Ma’s 1991-92 performing schedule is equally adventuresome, as Ma continues to refuse to limit himself to the big-name orchestras or to the virtuoso showpieces that others churn out concert after concert. In September, he toured Europe and the United States with the Jugende Deutsche Philharmonie, and in October he performed the Oliver Knussen Concerto with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Lorin Maazel. Still ahead are works by Peter Lieberson (in Munich with Peter Serkin and Emanuel Ax) and a John Harbison work (with the Boston Symphony). This willingness to explore new music reflects what jazz composer and pianist Roger Kellaway, with whom Ma collaborated a few years ago in the improvisational Two Moods of Blue, describes as Ma’s “childish curiosity, a certain excitement about going into a new playground and seeing where the toys are.”

The cellist himself is determined to keep that musical curiosity alive, even to the extent of scheduling a sabbatical in the Kalahari Desert to study the music of the indigenous people. He admits that “the thing I’m most afraid of is to be bored. It’s death—I’d rather stop playing.” For a performer so totally involved in the music he plays, it’s also the most unlikely final cadence.