The problem with recitals of solo cello music is that there isn't a particularly large repertoire to choose from. The Bach suites apart, the only major work for the unaccompanied instrument is Zoltan Kodaly's awesome sonata, with which, on this occasion, Yo-Yo Ma chose to close his concert of what he called "transnational" music. The rest of the programme, padded out with engaging chitchat with the audience, consisted largely of works written for him with a heavy folk bias.

Despite the slightness of some of the material, Yo-Yo Ma remains a riveting performer. He bounces energetically on to the platform with an appealing, ingenuous grin, then seems to immerse himself in the sounds he makes with compelling intensity, as deep emotions flicker across his face.

Mark O'Connor's Appalachia Waltz emerges out of silence, its wistful, halting melody sounding like a memory of half-forgotten folk music. Bright Sheng's Seven Tunes Heard In China covers a whole gamut of styles from Tibetan dance to ancient music from the imperial court. The latter imitates a guitar-like instrument called a ch'ing, in use in China for 2,000 years. Finding a suitable plectrum, Ma told us, proved difficult. The best solution, he added, was to use the plastic key-card from his hotel room - and the audience roared with delight.

David Wilde's The Cellist Of Sarajevo commemorates a musician from the Sarajevo Opera who played for 22 days on a site where the same number of people were killed by a grenade. It is a grinding lament, owing more than a little to Gorecki's Third Symphony, powerful and haunting in its impact.

Ma's performance of the Kodaly sonata, however, is a tour de force that has you on the edge of your seat. The demands on the cellist are formidable - triple-stopping galore, a slow movement that punctuates a winding melody with double-stopped pizzicati, an emotional range that pushes the instrument's expressive capabilities to its absolute limits.

Ma's technical wizardry was never in doubt - there were times when you felt you were listening to a string quartet rather than a soloist - nor was his ability to communicate extremes of feeling. A standing ovation followed, then came the encores: excerpts from the Bach suites chosen by the audience. The subsequent applause went on for ever.