Barnes & Noble

If it ain't broke, don't fix it -- or so the saying goes. In 1999, Yo-Yo Ma decked out his cello with gut strings and other trappings of 18th-century performance practice to give us Simply Baroque, a gorgeous album that spent many months atop the classical charts. For this equally lovely sequel, Ma follows the same successful formula, balancing a rich bouquet of Bach transcriptions -- representing the intricate contrapuntal marvels of the high baroque -- with a pair of Boccherini concertos in the less complex, more melodically direct rococo style. The Bach selections include favorite tunes, such as the aria from the Goldberg Variations and the chorale prelude "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme," as well as less familiar fare, all of which Ma plays with exquisite taste and a dark, sinewy tone. The Boccherini works are charmers, and Ma dispatches their virtuoso decorations with unfailing grace. As before, maestro Ton Koopman and his Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra provide superb accompaniment, supplying a silky-smooth surface on which the cellist etches his long, lyrical lines. With Simply Baroque II, Ma has earned yet another feather for his powdered wig. Andrew Farach-Colton

New York Times

The familiar "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" is delightful: simple and even playful. The Boccherini concertos (in B-flat and in D minor) are rendered with the virtuosity and musicality we've come to expect from this consummate cellist. Ira Rosenblum