The Best Cellist

Of course, there is no official international ranking of musicians. There are competitions, but even those are annual, and are focused on a narrow portion of music. There are very good pianists, for example, that are internationally recognized, but there is practically no way to rank them other than by pure speculation. And I think that there is nothing wrong with this. For if there was a best pianist, a best cellist, etc. we would stop exploring music, and fix our attention on those performers.

Now, I proceed to offer my opinion on who the best cellist is. I know that this primarily a blog about piano, but I think that a little diversity will do no harm.

This cellist was performing for presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy at the age of seven. He helped write and perform the music for The Incredibles. His expression and technique is so pure that many people think his cello magical (though a Stradivarius, the cellist playing has to be extremely good to coax magical qualities from it). Ladies and Gentlemen, give it up for Yo Yo Ma!

Ma's repertoire is extremely diverse, ranging from Bach cello suites to Tango to Jazz to movie soundtracks. The following video is ONE of my favorites of Ma. I simply cannot put all my favorites into one blog post.