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93 of 94 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
No Dark, Sullen Winter Here!, October 16, 2008
These days anthologies of a given leading musician with assorted guests are commonplace, and we have seen them in rock, jazz, blues, and even country. But Yo-Yo Ma is a classical musician who ventures far into other realms, from his Silk Road Project to Bossa Nova and Tango. Here is a stunning winter holiday album (not all strictly Christmas songs) where Ma makes music with major artists from around the world in unusual instrumental combinations. This album has excellent sound quality, as you would expect, but it is also an unusual 79 minutes long. The great jazz and Latin clarinetist Paquito D'Rivera appears on three tracks. Ma is joined with fiddle and bagpipes in support of an Alison Krauss vocal. Another Celtic combination, French Canadian, includes harp, piano, drums, and Natalie Macmaster on fiddle. Dave Brubeck and his cello-playing son Matt Brubeck appear; that is correct, two cellos. Cello and saxophone combine care of Joshua Redman, and how about cello and ukulele via Jake Shimabukuro! A work composed by Osvaldo Golijov brings together a sheng, santur, tabla, ney, kamancheh, shakuhachi, pipa, and Western strings of cello, violin, violas. Four different improvisations on Dona Nobis Pacem are interspersed among the tracks to help unite the recordings. And the jazz, Celtic, classical, rock, Latin, and pop tunes are all remarkably infused with holiday joy and Ma's sweet and sonorous cello. These fine and mellow pieces are not for dance parties but for enjoying the coziness, warmth, and peace of sitting with friends, viewing a fireplace or holiday lights, and tasting special food and drink. When you finish listening to this CD, expect to find a smile on your face and happiness in your heart.
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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A decent attempt to bring the world together for the holidays, November 22, 2008
Anyone who enjoys professional instrumentation should find something worthy on this CD. "Songs of Joy & Peace" begins with Yo-Yo Ma's expressive solo of "Dona Dobis Pacem (Give Us Peace)", which will later be the theme of 4 improvisations with various instrumentalists on this CD.
Diana Krall and James Taylor each offer us a nice vocal recording, both of which are mostly non-Christmas, except for a small improv on the piano from Krall before she kicks into the song. Renee Fleming's song seems to be below her normal standard of performance, but is still way above average. The Krall, Taylor and Fleming recordings seem slightly out of place for the theme of a holiday CD, but they all sing with romantic warmth, which makes the inclusion of these recordings more than acceptable.
A major highlight for me is Alison Krauss' beautiful recording of "The Wexford Carol", which is a traditional Irish Christmas carol. Her vocals are perfect and the song seems natural. "The Wexford Carol" is my absolute favorite vocal track on the CD for capturing the traditional passion of the holiday season. The tracks with Chris Botti are also major highlights. I am usually partial to the trumpet with its great melodic tones. (I played the trumpet in school.) Botti sounds really professional alongside Yo-Yo Ma on the cello. Christina Pato on the bagpipes is a nice celtic highlight.
My favorite instrumental track is "My One and Only Love", with Joshua Redman on the saxophone and Yo-Yo Ma on the cello. Yo-Yo shows the expressiveness that has made him famous, and Redman is just phenomenal. "My One and Only Love" is my favorite arrangement, only rivaling the wonderful rendition of "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" with Hawaiian Jake Shimabukuro on the ukulele. I was surprised at how expressive the little ukulele really can be, and the tone color is right on. But I must not forget the legendary Dave Brubeck. He records some wonderful instrumental holiday jazz with Matt Brubeck (his youngest son), and also with the entertaining Paquito D'Rivera on the clarinet.
The back of the CD states Yo-Yo's objective for this disc:
"Imagine a party, a musical party inspired by the holiday season. A party that celebrates the universal hopes, dreams and joy animating seasonal festivals the world over. That is what brought Yo-Yo Ma together with a remarkable group of friends - some old, some new - to create SONGS OF JOY & PEACE. It is Yo-Yo's hope that everyone who listens to this album will hear a song familiar, comfortable and beloved to them as well as discover and fall in love with music that is brand new."
In the end, Yo-Yo Ma did a decent job in achieving his objective, but I am still trying to imagine this musical party. I know very little about the Assad family from Brazil, but I enjoyed their "Familia" recording very much, and Sergio Assad's guitar recordings are right on. The Cuban clarinetist Paquito D'Rivera is a nice inclusion to the CD, with his professional quality instrumentation with the clarinet. Israeli pianist Alon Yavnai is also very professional, as well as Wu Tong, who sings while playing the traditional Chinese sheng. Overall, "Songs of Joy & Peace" includes musicians from America, Cuba, Canada, Galicia, Brazil, Israel, and China (the ethnic origin of Yo-Yo Ma).
In conclusion, it is clear that Yo-Yo Ma has more in mind than just a simple run-of-the-mill holiday album. I do not find Yo-Yo's ideas to be grandiose, but instead I look at it as an appeal for everyone to embrace the different qualities of each culture in this world. Yo-Yo has been trying to increase cultural literacy since 1999 with his Silk Road Project, which promotes "collaboration among artists and institutions, promoting multicultural artistic exchange, and studying the ebb and flow of ideas among different cultures along the Silk Road."
I will recommend "Songs of Joy & Peace" not only to Yo-Yo Ma fans, but also to fans of instrumentation in general. However, this CD is an eclectic collection, which sometimes makes the flow of the recordings seem ill-matched. I recommend sampling first. In the end, I feel the CD holds together nicely overall. "Songs of Joy & Peace" is certainly worth the price.
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40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful CD by Yo Yo Ma, October 16, 2008
When I bought Yo-Yo-Ma & Friends: Songs of Joy & Peace, I missed entirely the holiday connection that much of the music has. It wasn't until I actually listened to the CD and heard "Joy to the World" featuring Dave Brubeck on track three that I looked at the cover again and saw a very eclectic but thematically strong collection of holiday music.
Songs of Joy & Peace is a wonderful CD. Yo Yo Ma is at his best on each of the tracks and gives his visiting artists full range. My favorite tracks include:
2. You Couldn't be Cuter with Diana Krall and John Clayton
4. Here Comes the Sun with James Taylor
6. The Wassail Song/All Through the Night with Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile
7. A Christmas Jig/Mouth of the Tobique Reel with Natalie McMaster
8. The Wexford Carol with Alison Krauss
10. Improvisation on Dona Nobis Pacem with Sérgio Assad and Odair Assad
16. Concordia with Dave Brubeck and Matt Brubeck
17. My Favorite Things with Chris Botti
Actually, this is unfair since I enjoyed the entire CD. I purchased the deluxe edition and have only viewed the 5 performances. There are other treasures yet to be explored.
Yo Yo Ma is a treasure and his ability to collaborate with other musicians from other fields and genre's of music is a treat for us all.
I'll leave the discussion about mixing and sound quality to others though it all sounded great to me.
Treat yourself.
Peace
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