Customer Reviews

New Impossibilities

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As you might note from my other reviews, I find the work and range of Yo Yo Ma to be quite stimulating and wonderful to hear. I often take chances and buy his work without previewing it based on past happy purchases. I fell in love with the first album in the Silk Road series since it was full of bright new and interesting melodies and performances. It is surely a work of great interest. However, I found this album to be less bright and without the stimulating variety of the first work. The second was just alright and I find this one to be just dull. Maybe, it was my mood but that is my first reaction. I have seen the first two concerts that supported the first two albums and loved the music live and on disk. It is not that the idea has grown cold or old but the music does not have the vibrance of the first two works. I would go to listen to them first.

This compilation of new (to me) sounds was enchanting and well worth leisure listening. I wasn't quite expecting the unusual instruments to provide the level of musicality and transition they did. This album is a joy and credit to the innovation and vision of the composers, arrangers and musicians who created this beautiful presentation of New Impossibilities.
Linda Petersen

Yo-yo Ma and his friends made a wonderful collaboration in this further compilation of music along the 'Silk Road'.
The repertoire chosen ranges from contemproary to classic. The variety is great, and the novelty and creativity to be marvelled.
While the compilation and re-arrangement of the 'Ambush from Ten Sides' for the pipa instrument is admirably re-freshing, if ever there is any further added dimension to Yo Yo's project, I would like to refer him to the 12 Uighur Suites (Muqams) and contemproary Uighur guitarist-cum-composer-singer Arken Abddulah, a promoter of the Dolan Muqam as well as modern Uighur music, who is also an ardent Flamenco music follower. The "Ambush" piece was too much of a 'mainland' tune to be reckoned with the Silk Road, though the pipa is an instrument originating from the Central Asian region, but so is the guitar!

The label said, "It will rock your world." They weren't lying. I have joyously followed the Silk Road Journeys and this CD is a welcome addition. I honestly do not have the chops to give a meaningful review of classical music except to say that I thoroughly enjoy this recording.

There is another version of this CD that contains NINE tracks.

The beautiful ninth track is by composer Angel Lam, a rising star in new music with a commission from Carnegie Hall and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra to be conducted by Robert Spano this fall (2009).

Strangely, the 9-track version of this CD is sold exclusively by another online book store - Cowsheds & Aristocrat, or something like that. ;-)

(Full disclosure: Lam and I are friends from grad school.)

There are many collaborative masterpieces in the world but this one definitely stands out. The exploration of different sounds are impressive, and while I only wish the CD was longer, I was thoroughly satisfied.

I heard the horses track played on public radio and had to have this CD. I really like it. I also love being able to buy music from amazon at a good price!

As is typical with YO YO, his desire to keep expanding the boundaries through integration with other styles and sounds leaves music fans with a broad smile. The most significant piece is the Silent City and its cello beginnings as performed by Kayhan Kalhor on the Kamancheh. The haunting feelings that came from the extermination of an entire village of people perpetually resonate from this song. It has such incredible depth that one can feel the genocidal impacts as if it happened today. If you are someone who likes things to span very different genres of music then you will enjoy this immensely.

Since I heard this c.d. for the first time, my ears are constantly hungry for it. There are so many new sounds, instruments, melodies, and harmonies here that at first hearing my head was spinning and my body--dancing. I didn't think I'd like this amalgam of east and west, but I do, I do. Particularly magnificent is "The Silent City" for cello and strings. It starts so quietly that you can barely hear it, but it builds up to a rich melody that wrings your heart and takes you to the deep places of wonder and longing that you recognize as your soul. This lyrical masterpiece is followed by the energetic and vibrant Indian Tabla which I love. How can you not leap out of your skin to the sounds of these drums which cascade to our ears like a waterfall of fast and varying beats?
What Yo-Yo Ma has given us here is a gift like no other. Beethoven reportedly said that music is the voice of God. This is it. Right here.

Yo-Yo Ma, The Silk Road Ensemble and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra have created what can only be described as diversity at its best. After hearing one track on a local radio station I decided to purchase the CD and was I surprised. This is one great recording. Imaginative, delightful, mournful, foot-tapping, and yes, a listening pleasure. "The Silent City," by Kayhan Kalhor is haunting, but my favorite track is "Ambush from Ten Sides," which will jolt you from your seat. However, if you really want to enjoy this CD . . . turn it up!