Art for life’s sake

Terry King

As musicians they both received Avery Fisher Awards, only one of many accolades too numerous to list. They are both dedicated to new music and their discography demonstrates that in abundance. Ax shares in many of Ma’s nearly 20 Grammys and has many of his own. As musical partners they have an affinity impossible to fully define. Ma described their work as “prepared spontaneity” the magic that happens between the notes. Ma further explains that “if you can be playful you can be vulnerable.” Great communication is the trust gained through the exchange of vulnerabilities. Ma’s credo could be summed up with a statement made at the Nancy Hanks Lecture in 2013, “As musicians, we transcend technique in order to seek out the truths in our world in a way that gives meaning and sustenance to individuals and communities. That’s art for life’s sake.”

They have recorded basically all the standard cello-piano repertoire from Beethoven to Britten including contemporaries Peter Lieberson, and John Corigliano. It goes without saying that Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax’s separate orchestral and solo work is prodigious.

In the realm of chamber music they have amassed a huge repertory as well, surveying the monuments of piano trios, piano quartets, Schubert’s Trout quintet and other works. Their partners are the world’s leaders: Itzhak Perlman, Leonidas Kavakos, Young Uck Kim, Pamela Frank, Jaime Laredo, Chou Liang Kim, Rebecca Young, Edgar Meyer, Richard Stoltzman and the late Isaac Stern. Obviously, tallying their countless concerts together would be a difficult and needless task. They of course often appear on television and are on the soundtracks of films like Immortal Beloved and are prominently featured in Ken Burn’s The Civil War.

It should be mentioned that the piano in these great masterpieces always has the greatest challenges and responsibilities in comparison to the strings. To wit, Mr. Ax shared one example of his probing of Brahms performance practice, referring to pianist Ilona Eibenschütz, a friend of Brahms and student of Clara Schumann. In 1952 at the age of 80 she recorded for radio candid recollections of the 1890s and of Brahms’ playing in particular. She touchingly demonstrated a moment in the C Minor Trio (op. 101) second movement as played by the composer, at a concert at the Frankfurt Museum when the piece was new. At the return of the opening melody in the second movement she showed how he magically played it; he took time to change to the new mood dreamily in a way we don’t hear today, a cue as to what is lost between generations. Ax admitted, “I want to play it just like her.”