Scarred (2013)

Sol Gabetta’s first recording of the Elgar Cello Concerto, with the Danish National Symphony, was much admired when it appeared six years ago. This one, taken from a concert in the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus in 2014, is a far glossier affair orchestrally. Simon Rattle’s tendency to overmould the phrasing is sometimes too obvious, but Gabetta’s playing is intense and searching, less introspective than some performances in the Adagio, perhaps, but epic in scale in the outer movements, and always keenly responsive. Those who possess her earlier disc might not think they need to invest in this one, but would then miss Gabetta’s vivid, pulsating account of the Martinů concerto, which went through a quarter of a century of revisions before the definitive 1955 version she plays here, with Krysztof Urbański conducting. She finds real depth and intensity in it, both in the slow movement and in the introspective episode that interrupts the finale’s headlong rush.

Following his powerful 2015 album Breathless, 4-time Grammy-winning trumpeter & composer Terence Blanchard has recorded its sequel by documenting his band The E-Collective live in three American cities - Minneapolis, Cleveland, and Dallas - that have been scarred by the escalation of tension between law enforcement and unarmed African Americans. "Live" features Terence with keyboardist Fabian Almazan, guitarist Charles Altura, bassist David Ginyard Jr., and drummer Oscar Seaton.
The underlying message is serious, imbued with a sense of pain and loss. There's also a palpable sense of anger expressed here, especially in Blanchard's often ferocious trumpet solos…