So what if the packaging includes another halfdozen attractive images of the young Argentinianborn cellist? Reviewing her debut release of Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saëns and Ginastera (1/07), Harriet Smith discovered an exceptional musician too. The only problem with this latest CD, devoted to Shostakovich, is the impossibly high standard set by the late Mstislav Rostropovich, the Second Cello Concerto’s breathtaking original performer and the composer’s own partner of choice in the Cello Sonata. Still, with arguably his finest recordings of both works currently subsumed within EMI’s 28-disc budget box, there exists no obvious alternative should you be in the market for a hard-copy pairing.

The Second Concerto can seem an oddly diffuse work in lesser hands and it is to Sol Gabetta’s credit that she offers a distinctive, introspective approach, daringly spacious at times, deliberately eschewing superficial excitement. The generous acoustic of the Munich venue is not unattractive but softens a finely blended orchestral sonority lacking the pungency usually associated with this music. The microphones pick up a good deal of extraneous vocalisation, documenting what could be Marc Albrecht’s attempt to get more Soviet-style edginess into the band’s contribution. This is another live recording in which applause is not retained.

The same exaggerated intimacy is a feature of the Sonata where there are some heart-stopping pianissimos but little of the visceral attack of a contemporary exponent like Han-Na Chang (EMI, 5/06). While Sol Gabetta’s poetic sensibility is not in doubt, one suspects that her beautiful tone is not large. Does it matter? Those who find the composer a bit of a bruiser will find much to prize in these supremely lyrical, slightly pallid interpretations.