Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax have both been playing Beethoven’s Cello Sonata No. 3 in A Major for over forty years. But it took a global pandemic for the two of them to fully understand it. “This is such open, hopeful music,” Ax said. But when Beethoven dedicated the original piece to a friend, he signed the manuscript, “amid tears and sorrow.” Beethoven, Ma and ... Show More
Yesterday
Malcolm Gladwell on “The American Way of Killing”
Malcolm Gladwell, a longtime staff writer at The New Yorker, often uses ideas from the social sciences and epidemiology and applies them to surprising topics. But his new book tackles an issue that’s in the headlines every day. The book is called “The American Way of Killing,” an ... Show More
24m 11s
Sep 15
John Wilson and “The History of Concrete”
John Wilson is a documentary filmmaker, a comedian, and a contemporary philosopher. On his hit HBO show, “How To with John Wilson,” he wandered around New York City filming everyday life, pontificating, and asking strangers questions ranging from the mundane to the esoteric. The ... Show More
19m 43s
Apr 2025
How music helped me live through long COVID | Joshua Roman
An accomplished cellist, TED Fellow Joshua Roman has practiced his instrument daily since he was a child — until a severe case of long COVID almost robbed him of his ability to play. In an inspiring talk, he plays a piece by Johann Sebastian Bach, shares how he found his way back ... Show More
18m 26s
Apr 2024
Cultural Threads
From his studio in Boston, Yo-Yo Ma tells us how music eases tensions between American and Chinese people, even as Washington and Beijing are at each other’s throats.
Guests: Yo Yo Ma; Hai Ye Ni, principal cellist, Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra
Sound design, original score, mi ... Show More
20 m
Sep 2020
THE 5TH — MOVEMENT II, From Struggle to Victory
In the first movement of his famous symphony, Beethoven sets up a battle between hope and despair. The dark side of that spectrum is represented by the anguished opening notes of the first movement: DUN DUN DUNNN. Over the course of the next three movements, Beethoven keeps tryin ... Show More
27m 4s
May 2020
Mahler Symphony No. 2, Part 3
<p>At the end of 1893, Mahler could not find a way to end his 2nd Symphony. But the funeral of Hans Von Bulow, a conductor who Mahler worshipped even though Von Bulow hated Mahler's music, gave Mahler what he called "the flash that all creative artists wait for." In one of the mo ... Show More
55m 49s
Sep 2023
Beethoven String Quartet, Op. 132, Part 2
<p>If you joined me last week, you heard about the severe intestinal illness that Beethoven suffered from during the year of 1825. Beethoven thought that he was near death; he was spitting up blood, in terrible pain, and regularly begged his doctor for help. Ensconced in Baden, ... Show More
44m 37s