The Thaïs Méditation was originally an Entr’acte from the opera Thaïs by Jules Massenet. The opera itself is set in Roman-era Egypt and centers on a monk named Athanaël who tries to convert the courtesan Thaïs to Christianity. The Méditation occurs in Act II between two scenes, at a moment when Thaïs is wrestling with her worldly life and the possibility of spiritual change. It was originally for orchestra plus solo violin. The piece has long line melody that pierce through your heart.
You know a composer did a great job of an entr’acte when (i) it is frequently performed outside the opera as a stand-alone concert work (for this one more of an encore) (ii) other instruments steals it, especially master at their (late) prime time recordings. I’m talking about you, yo yo ma—it’s very hard to do better than the original instrumentation, frankly speaking he did a great job into making one not question whether it is originally composed for cello. If it’s your first time listening to the Méditation, you might thought it’s just a lyrical song for cello & piano. For example, check how many comments down the YouTube video claiming this is their GOAT version.