Janet Banks listens to the veteran duo’s performance of Fauré, Assad, Nadia Boulanger, Shostakovich, Pärt and Franck at London’s Barbican Hall on 2 November 2024

Yo Yo Ma

Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott on powerfully poignant form. Photo: Mark Allan/Barbican

This was the four-decade’s old duo’s much-anticipated London farewell before Kathryn Stott’s retirement from the concert platform. Cheers greeted them as they walked on stage and a genial warmth pervaded the hall, shrinking it to the feel of a more intimate chamber venue.

It could almost have been called ‘An Evening with…’ as both players took the mic to introduce items with the easy banter of old friends. The first five pieces, bookended by two exquisitely delivered Fauré miniatures, the Berceuse and Papillon, were played as a set, Yo-Yo Ma’s bow staying on the string, leaving hardly a breath between them. Sérgio Assad’s Menino set the cellist’s lower leg tapping as he scooted around in thumb position and Nadia Boulanger’s Cantique created an atmosphere of profound and moving calm, Ma often looking upwards as if in gratitude.

An awe-inspiring performance of Shostakovich’s D minor Sonata followed. Ma varied his vibrato from stark emptiness to full-scale passion, weaving a spell of desolation over the piano’s rising octaves, as if Harry Potter’s dementors had swept in. The Allegro, packed with frenetic energy, ended in a blast like a door slamming before a Largo in which every note felt packed with meaning and emotion.

Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel, accompanied by screen images from the Hubble Space Telescope and played at a rapt pianissimo, left the audience silent in appreciation before a life-affirming performance of Franck’s A major Sonata brought more joy and impassioned playing. Two encores later the pair were finally allowed to leave the stage after a fitting celebration of their incomparable collaboration.

JANET BANKS