In blazing form, the trumpeter from Tel Aviv responds to the turbulent spirit of a troubled time, leading his dedicated band through a five-part suite that runs the gamut of emotions, by turns hopeful, despairing, outraged and profoundly melancholic.

The melodic directness of the concluding “The Seventh”, composed by Avishai Cohen’s teenaged daughter Amalia, offers consoling contrast to the suite’s intensity.

In between, Cohen turns his attention to the haunting Adagio assai from Ravel’s G major piano concerto, which has long been a highlight of the quartet’s concerts. Ashes to Gold was recorded in November 2023, at Studios La Buissonne, in the South of France.

1. Ashes to Gold, Part I (9:17)
2. Ashes to Gold, Part II (6:44)
3. Ashes to Gold, Part III (3:34)
4. Ashes to Gold, Part IV (2:11)
5. Ashes to Gold, Part V (10:28)
6. Adagio assai (from Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major) (7:56)
7. The Seventh (3:23)

This decadently-sculpted new recording opens on the ornate, delicately-hued Ashes to Gold, Part I and the sheer gossamer of the airy Part II, and then we get brought forth the heavenly divine, smoothly elegant Part III, the more liberated notes of Part IV, the veritably shimmering, ten minute Part V, the album rounding out on a dutifully impassioned Adagio assai (from Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major), closing on daughter’s-composed work, the flourishing The Seventh.

Official Purchase Link

www.avishaicohen.com