Ever wanted one of the world’s greatest cellists in your living room for an intimate chat about Bach? Wait no longer. If you are a user of Alexa, Amazon’s popular virtual assistant, then Yo-Yo Ma’s Musical Moments is the latest ‘skill’ on offer.

Created to complement last Friday’s release of the French-born American cellist’s third recording of the six Bach Cello Suites – what will be the 62-year-old virtuoso’s final thoughts on the works, we are told – Ma can now guide listeners through the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, while sharing excerpts from the new CD and telling stories gleaned from a lifetime spent in the company of one of classical music’s greatest composers.

Amazon’s Alexa has been steadily building a substantial catalogue of skills – essentially add on apps – that can allow her to do pretty much anything from playing 20 questions to barking like a dog (the Jurassic Bark skill, apparently voiced by Cali, a maltese poodle from Seattle), but this is a first for any classical music artist. Yo-Yo Ma’s Musical Moments is available as an Alexa Skill on English-language Alexa-enabled...