Yo-Yo Ma brought classical music to the general public

The argument

Yo-Yo Ma is often considered to be the most well-known cellist in modern history, and the case for calling him the greatest rests on that reach rather than on technique alone. He brought classical music to the general public despite classical music not being widely played, and the argument holds that the achievement worth measuring is not only what a musician can do with the instrument but how many people he brings to it, a standard on which no other cellist is comparable. The foundation was conventional enough. Yo-Yo Ma learned to play cello at four years old and gave his first public recital at age five. Later in his life he performed as part of a trio and recorded his traditional cello repertoire, a body of work that establishes him inside the form on its own terms and makes the rest of his career something other than a departure from seriousness. What distinguished him afterwards was his collaboration with artists and musicians from other genres and traditions, which rejuvenated classical music and popularized it to the public. Collaboration across genres brings the cello to audiences already gathered elsewhere, rather than waiting for those audiences to come to the concert hall. He then made that approach institutional. He founded the Silk Road Project in 1998, aiming to make international classical music more widely accessible. The project explored culture along the silk road, which includes Asia, the Middle East, and the West, and Ma led a group of musicians to perform classical music along that route. The effect was twofold: more people gained access to classical music because of the effort, and the group also offered new compositions that combined different cultures, eventually making an album, so the outreach generated repertoire rather than merely repackaging it. On this reading Ma's claim rests on scale and consequence, and because he brought classical music to the general public he is the greatest cellist.

Context

Who defines the greatest cellist? Who is Yo-Yo Ma and how does he contribute to connect classical music to the world? From performing for president Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy at age 7 to having concerts all over the world, Yo-Yo Ma is the greatest cellist all the time.

Premises

Counter-arguments

Yo-yo Ma plays a wide range of genres, from Bach to Chinese folk. He does not specifically focus on one type of genre, classical music. His transient style capitalizes on popular genres and artists to reach relevance. He is not necessarily providing a novel musical experience to the public. There are many great cellists in the world, and the criteria for a cellist's skill is purely subjective. Although Yo-yo Ma had a large influence on popularizing music to the world, other cellists, such as Pablo Casals, might be the greatest cellist of all time. Pablo Casals made the most popular Bach recording ever and made a bridge between the modern age and classical music.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Fame and greatness are different measures, and the argument moves between them without argument. Being the most widely recognised cellist is a fact about public profile, and the childhood recital establishes precocity rather than lasting achievement. [Rejecting P2] The counter-argument on record turns the crossover work against the claim, arguing that a career spanning Bach to folk traditions from several continents is not a career devoted to classical music, and that collaborating with popular artists reaches audiences through their existing appeal rather than through the repertoire. [Rejecting P3] The comparative claim that no other cellist has done as much to popularise the form appears nowhere in the body and is not defended. The counter names Pablo Casals, whose recordings of the Bach cello suites are generally credited with restoring them to the repertoire — a claim of the same kind, and one the argument does not weigh. [Rejecting C] The criterion itself is also contestable: popularising a form is a matter of reach, and the rival positions rest on interpretation, technique and influence on other players, none of which this argument addresses.