Composer John Williams and cellist Yo-Yo Ma bring together 'A Gathering of Friends'

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, left, with composer John Williams, right. The pair recently released a collaborative recording, A Gathering of Friends, with the New York Philharmonic. (Lawrence Sumulong/Courtesy of Sony Music)

"I'd already learned about this wunderkind who played cello, and was very excited to meet him when he came to the [Boston] Pops for one of our television recordings," recalls John Williams, renowned composer of unforgettable film scores like Star Wars and Jurassic Park, of his first hearing another musical star, the cellist Yo-Yo Ma. "I was enormously impressed with this fantastically mature art from such a young person."

"John has a great capacity to make me blush," Ma laughs.