Recorded with the Roma Sinfonietta Orchestra, Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone sees the American cellist tackle some of the legendary Italian composer's most famous film scores. Produced by Morricone himself, the 2004 release features new arrangements of iconic soundtracks from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Cinema Paradiso, and Once Upon a Time in America, alongside lesser-known works from The Mission, A Pure Formality, and The Legend of 1900.

New York-based ensemble, The Knights, announce their new Sony Classical album, Shorthand, featuring the works of one today’s most in-demand composers, Anna Clyne, set for release on August 23, 2024. Shorthand explores the sound of strings through a collection of works that represent and reflect artistic friendships and the power of collaboration and features performances by mandolinist Avi Avital, violinists Colin Jacobsen and Pekka Kuusisto, plus cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

In his relentless quest to explore uncharted territories of cellodom, Yo-Yo Ma has delivered a recital for unaccompanied cello that–daringly–hasn’t any Bach. Instead, there are five works by as many composers, only two of which are truly successful as solo cello outings: Bright Sheng’s Seven Tunes Heard in China (a self-explanatory title if there ever was one) and Zoltan Kodaly’s justly famous Sonata for Solo Cello Op. 8.

It was only a matter of time before the remarkable Yo-Yo Ma went along with the tide and dipped his talent into the so-called authentic instrument movement. On this recital, abetted by Ton Koopman–one of the most respected names in early-music practice–Ma plays Bach and Boccherini. The Bach are all transcriptions and very fine ones, indeed–the alto aria "Erbarme Dich" from the St. Matthew Passion; the equally famous "Air on a G String" from the Third Orchestral Suite; Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring; and six others, most less well-known. These are followed by two fascinating cello concertos by Boccherini, made all the more interesting by Koopman's cadenzas, which are pretty outrageous. Throughout, Ma's stunning virtuosity is matched by his taste and musicality. The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra plays handsomely, and the recorded sound is warm and full. "Authentic" or not, this is mighty fine playing, and wait till you hear those cadenzas.

Classic Yo-Yo is a greatest-hits collection for the famous Yo-Yo Ma, something he's fully entitled to after two decades of runaway success. It's "Classic Yo-Yo" in the sense that it presents well-loved and presumably durable selections from a variety of Yo-Yo Ma albums, not because it inclines toward Ma's straight-ahead classical recordings. In fact the division between classical and crossover pieces on the disc is about 50/50, and they tend to alternate. The transition from Bach to Astor Piazzolla works OK, but that from Appalachian Journey mastermind Edgar Meyer to Brahms might be a bit jarring. A greatest-hits album is a tough item for Ma because his recordings are so different from one another and involve such a variety of other musicians. As Ma himself says in an interview included in the liner material, "Collaboration is the best part of what I do, it's what I enjoy most about being a musician".

Yo-Yo Ma’s multi-faceted career is testament to his continual search for new ways to communicate with audiences, and to his personal desire for artistic growth and renewal. Whether performing new or familiar works from the cello repertoire, coming together with colleagues for chamber music or exploring cultures and musical forms outside the Western classical tradition, Mr. Ma strives to find connections that stimulate the imagination. Very Japanese release. Traditional instruments along with Yo-Yo Ma, lovely to just let play in the background.

This disc is sort of Yo-Yo's virtuoso collection. The album is comprised largely of fairly mindless music, but at least Ma manages to make things interesting. Most of these works are played extremely well - his cello arrangement of the Dvorak-Kriesler "Songs my mother taught me" is stunning, and if the octaves (and a bit of other passagework) in the Paganani 24th caprice are out of tune, that track still serves as a tribute to his incredible technical skill.

Yo-Yo Ma Plays the Music of John Williams is a 2002 album of John Williams compositions performed by Yo-Yo Ma and the Recording Arts Orchestra of Los Angeles. The album was recorded on April 4–6, 2001 at the Sony Pictures Studios, Culver City, California.

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Kathryn Stott create a unique classical music experience with their new Sony Classical recording "Songs from the Arc". This all-new recording also celebrates thirty years of friendship and collaboration in concerts and recordings for Ma and Stott. The album includes pieces they have frequently performed but never recorded, as well as a handful of discoveries.

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma is back for a sixth album with the Silk Road Ensemble. "Sing me Home" is the companion album for a new documentary film called The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble. The album is a musical exploration of the notion of "home", from the diverse perspectives of the members of the Silk Road Ensemble. With a mix of traditional tunes and original songs we're taken on a tour of homes around the world from the Balkans to China, India, Iran, Ireland, Japan, Mali, Syria, and the United States.

"The Goat Rodeo Sessions" is a groundbreaking project that brings together four string virtuosos: acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma, fiddler Stuart Duncan, bassist Edgar Meyer and mandolin-player Chris Thile. Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile have collaborated in the past, producing the gold-selling album Songs of Joy and Peace. Each artist is a prominent figure in his own musical realm. They have come together as a unified quartet for this classical-bluegrass masterpiece. The music, which includes two tracks with vocalist Aoife O’Donovan, feels both new and familiar it’s composed and improvised, uptown and down home, funky and pastoral and above all, uniquely American. The album topped the Billboard Bluegrass charts and won two GRAMMY Awards.

Sony Classical is pleased to present Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, and Yo-Yo Ma's Beethoven for Three: Symphony No. 4 and Op. 97 “Archduke," which will be released March 15, 2024.

The fifteen tracks carefully selected here come from popular music pieces owned by Sony/BMG Music. Ten of these wonderful pieces are first Japanese SACD for this project, and these particular tracks by the world famous artists such The Alan Parsons Project, Boz Scaggs, Roger Waters, Karla Bonoff, and Sarah McLachlan are a world exclusive on SACD only in this series.

When Billy Childs was 11 years old, his older sister introduced him to the work of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame singer-songwriter Laura Nyro. Her blend of Broadway inspired melodies, jazz improvisation and socially conscious lyrics have stayed with him. Now Billy has returned to his early source of inspiration, conceiving and orchestrating the new album, "Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro", which features an incredible range of musicians who join him in interpreting her narratives.

Yo-Yo Ma might seem like an unlikely protagonist for the tango, but this intrepid musical explorer has taken his task seriously, collaborating with experienced tango musicians. Ma even participates in a posthumous collaboration with one 1987 Piazzolla recording. Furthermore, while he's obviously the headliner here, he doesn't dominate the arrangements nearly as much as he does the billing and photography of the disc. While the result isn't your essential Piazzolla album (that would have to include more of the composer's own playing), it's an atmospheric and convincing collection, perhaps a good introduction for those who don't know the music.