Silk Road Journeys: Beyond the Horizon (CD) by Yo-Yo Ma/The Silkroad Ensemble

Sony Classical continues to produce remarkable music, not the least of which is created by cello virtuoso, Yo-Yo Ma. Certainly the most well known cellist of his generation, Ma wears the soloist mantle of Casals, Rostropovich, and Starker with effortless style. The Silk Road Ensemble's second record, Silk Road Journeys: Beyond The Horizon, features music created for a NHK 10 part television series focusing on the historical journey linking Eastern and Western cultures. The ensemble features Yo-Yo Ma's cello, and a wonderful and exotic combination of brilliant instrumentalists and vocalists from East and West. Collective improvisations, arrangements of traditional melodies, compositions by Zhao Jiping and Zhao Lin, and works by tablas master, Sandeep Das provide the structure and framework. The Silk Road Ensemble has created an entirely unique musical language.

The CD contains 15 brief compositions, loosely divided into three sections. The first section, "Enchantment," begins with a large ensemble work by Sandeep Das which evokes the energy of the streets of Delhi. The rhythmic complexity of the Indian percussion tradition meets the string quartets Western sonority in a powerful overture. The section closes with a subtle duet of Ma's cello and Wu Tong, playing a xun (a type of ocarina). The breath of the xun and the warmth of the cello, conjures the haunting beauty of the desert.

"Origins," the second section, reflects the various traditions which are melded in the Silk Road Ensemble. The meeting of Persian and European Classical traditions is represented by Kayhan Kalhor's composition "Mountains Are Far Away." These musicians have worked together in Tanglewood and at the Smithsonian. Their collaboration has developed a remarkable and moving synthesis of traditions. This synthesis and communication is heard most clearly in the percussion playing. "Summer In The High Grassland" uses Ma's cello as a contrast to intricate, multinational percussion. The piece speaks the universal language of the drum.

Azerbaijani mugham singer, Alim Quasimov, is featured in the "New Beginnings" section, which closes the CD. The mugham tradition is both elegant and complex. The common basis of all "folk" music can be best recognized in the human voice. While instruments may be exotic and foreign, the voice is common to all humanity. This collection highlights our commonality, while celebrating our uniqueness.

Kipling wrote, "East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great judgment seat." On Silk Road Journeys: Beyond the Horizon, The Silk Road Ensemble has created the score for just such a meeting. A horizon represents, not the end of the Earth, but the limit of our sight.

By Dave Morgan