York Peace

The 40-year friendship between two musical titans, John Williams & Yo-Yo Ma, reaches a new peak with “A Gathering of Friends.” The incredible warmth & brilliance of composer/conductor John Williams is felt throughout this album of both his concert music (a newly revised Cello Concerto) and his legendary film music, including a powerful new arrangement of the Theme from “Schindler’s List,” brought to life by Yo-Yo Ma and the world-renowned New York Philharmonic. Another highlight from the John Williams film music catalog is Yo-Yo Ma’s performance of “With Malice Toward None,” an inviting and uplifting melody from the movie “Lincoln,” inspired by Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address.

Leonard Bernstein’s recording with the New York Philharmonic of Gustav Holst’s famous The Planets, along with Benjamin Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from his opera Peter Grimes. There is a difference of opinion as to whether this multi-channel SACD is a good re-mastering of the original discrete 4 channel Quadriphonic master in which the orchestra actually surrounds you or is it taken from a 2 channel master and the rear channels and center channel have been re-produced artifically with just reverberation sounds which means the orchestra only sounds like it’s in front of you, but not behind you.