Appassionato

1	Going To School, for cell
2	Sonata for violin & piano
3	Preludes (3) for piano: I
4	Violin Concerto, for viol
5	Doce de Coco
6	Cello Concerto No. 1 in G
7	Nuovo cinema paradiso, fi
8	Carnival of the Animals,
9	Yanzi (Swallow Song) (Kaz
10	Concerto for violin, cell
11	Soledad, tango
12	Finnish Folksongs (5), fo
13	First Impressions, for vi
14	Song Without Words for ce
15	Gabriel's Oboe, theme fro
Appassionato
1.	Memoirs of a Geisha, film score: Going To School 2:46
	Composed by John Williams [composer]
	Performed by John Williams [composer] and Yo-Yo Ma
2.	Sonata for violin & piano in A major, M. 8: IV. Allegretto poco mosso 6:03
	Composed by César Franck
	Performed by Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott
3.	Preludes (3) for piano: II. Andante con moto e poco rubato 3:44
	Composed by George Gershwin
	Performed by Jeffrey Kahane and Yo-Yo Ma
4.	Violin Concerto, for violin, strings & continuo in F minor ("L'inverno," The Four Seasons; "Il cimento" No. 4), Op. 8/4, RV 297: II. Largo from "Winter" 1:47
	Composed by Antonio Vivaldi
	Performed by Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Yo-Yo Ma
	Conducted by Ton Koopman
5.	Doce de Coco 5:14
	Composed by Jacob do Bandolim
	Performed by Paquito d'Rivera, Romero Lubambo and Yo-Yo Ma
6.	Cello Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 49: II. Largo 5:56
	Composed by Dmitry Kabalevsky
	Performed by Yo-Yo Ma and Philadelphia Orchestra
	Conducted by Eugene Ormandy
7.	Cinema Paradiso, film score: Nostalgia (from Giuseppe Tornatore Suite) 1:53
	Composed by Ennio Morricone
	Conducted by Ennio Morricone
	Performed by Yo-Yo Ma and Roma Sinfonietta
8.	Carnival of the Animals, zoological fantasy for 2 pianos & ensemble: The Swan 3:10
	Composed by Camille Saint-Saëns
	Performed by Gaby Casadesus, Philippe Entremont and Yo-Yo Ma
9.	Yanzi (Swallow Song) (Kazakh) 5:23
	Composed by Chinese Traditional
	Performed by Yo-Yo Ma and Kojiro Umezaki
10.	Concerto for violin, cello & orchestra in A minor ("Double"), Op. 102: II. Andante 7:24
	Composed by Johannes Brahms
	Conducted by Claudio Abbado
	Performed by Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Yo-Yo Ma and Isaac Stern
11.	Soledad, tango 9:06
	Composed by Astor Piazzolla
	Performed by Yo-Yo Ma and Octavio Brunetti
12.	Finnish Folksongs (5), for cello & piano: No. 4. Mikin Pekko 1:58
	Composed by Michio Mamiya
	Performed by Yo-Yo Ma and Joel Fan
13.	First Impressions, for violin, cello & piano 4:11
	Composed by Edgar Meyer
	Performed by Edgar Meyer, Yo-Yo Ma and Mark O'Connor
14.	Song without Words for cello & piano in D major, Op. 109 4:08
	Composed by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
	Performed by Emanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma
15.	Mission, film score: "Gabriel's oboe" 2:24
	Composed by Ennio Morricone
	Performed by Emanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma

Barnes & Noble

If you want to understand why so many listeners feel so passionately about Yo-Yo Ma, Appassionato is just the place to start. The ardor of Ma's playing, the romantic quality of his music, the inherent tenderness of the cello itself -- all of these qualities infuse this career-spanning compilation. If the previously released Essential Yo-Yo Ma cuts a wider and perhaps more representative swath through Ma's recorded legacy, Appassionato does a better job of creating a sustained mood, emphasizing the many forms of lyricism the cellist has found in the melodies of Vivaldi and Brahms, John Williams and Ennio Morricone, Brazil and Appalachia. Chosen by Ma himself, this is a carefully curated journey, not a set of obvious "greatest hits," giving us the opportunity to encounter overlooked pieces like the touching slow movement from Kabalevsky's Cello Concerto No. 1. Another thread that runs through Appassionato is Ma's close relationships with other musicians: You'll hear him accompanied at the piano by John Williams on a previously unavailable track from Memoirs of a Geisha, and joined elsewhere by favorite collaborators such as Emanuel Ax, Edgar Meyer, Mark O'Connor, and Isaac Stern. For the dedicated Ma collector, there are a handful of new recordings offered in addition to the old favorites, including one of Mendelssohn's "Songs Without Words" (on which Ma is teamed with Ax); the charming Finnish folk song "Mikin Pekko"; and a languorous Astor Piazzolla composition, "Soledad," presented as a miniature sequel to Ma's Soul of the Tango album. All of the performances, of course, boast the powerfully expressive playing that marks the best of Ma's work. Scott Paulin

All Music Guide

This disc repackages tracks of a romantic mood from a variety of Yo-Yo Ma discs released over the course of his strong-selling album career. A few of them (track 2, for example) come from recordings of straight-ahead classical repertory, and there are several new tracks, but most are taken from the cellist's fabulously successful series of crossover recordings, including Obrigado Brazil, "Appalachia Waltz," and his collection of music by Italian film composer Ennio Morricone. These have all been innovative attempts to communicate with a wide audience, and it is a bit disconcerting to see Ma backing off from such innovation with this relatively conventional package of excerpts. There is, however, nothing whatsoever wrong with what Ma does here, taken on its own terms; his warm but never overdone way with a tune is everywhere in evidence, and the program does constitute a sort of de facto encore disc, mixing single movements of classical works with melodies from semi-popular traditions, of the kind Ma has never recorded but that, 50 years ago, would have seemed normal to any number of concert artists. It is also nice to hear a couple of selections from the Morricone disc, less familiar than blockbusters such as "Appalachia Waltz"; the concluding excerpt from the soundtrack to The Mission, with Morricone himself conducting, shows Ma's ear for instant crowd-pleasers nobody else has thought of. The bottom line is that the disc works as a pleasant crowd-pleaser and as a sampler of Ma's later work, even if one of his original discs will be more deeply satisfying. James Manheim

Seattle Times

It's all extremely choice, and a good beginner's introduction to Ma's passionate music-making. Melinda Bargreen

Buffalo News

A nice box of classical bon-bons for the cello, played by a master who is anything but a chocolatier. Jeff Simon