May 19, 2017

  • Music By Jeffrey Jacob

     

    Reawakening: The Music of Jeffrey Jacob
    Lara Turner, cello; Jeffrey Jacob, piano;
    National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba/Enrique Perez Mesa;
    Capitol Philharmonic of New Jersey; Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra/Daniel Spalding
    Navona 6087
    Total Time:  62:38
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

     

    Jeffrey Jacob is perhaps best known for his many excellent recordings of piano music by Barber, Crumb, and major works of Bartok.  He has performed throughout the world and has over a hundred recordings of works for solo piano and for piano with orchestra.  This new Navona release gives listeners a chance to hear him both as soloist, and collects a number of his own works together.  Thematically, the album is arranged in the sense of a life cycle from birth to death and rebirth—themes often touched upon within some of the individual pieces along the way.  The album takes its title from a solo piano work which closes the disc.

    The opening work, Awakening (2005), appeared on a 2016 compilation release from Ansonica Records that featured music from new American-Cuban relations.  Inspiration comes from the Thomas Hardy poem of the same name.  The ten-minute work begins with a moving, mournful thematic idea that begins in cello and arcs into violins and back before a more romantically-tinged piano idea picks up on this in an almost reflective way.  Bell tones and chimes also play an important in this work as additional signposts.  Subtle shifts in mode create a moving musical reflection and set the tone in a very accessible piece.  The lyrical writing particularly stands out with the almost magical piano ideas floating through the texture exploring melodic development.

    Two regional American orchestras are featured in the central portion of the album, both conducted by Daniel Spalding.  The first two are for piano and orchestra.  Both are nature tone poems exploring serene mountain settings.  The Loch Before Sunrise was inspired by “The Loch” located in Rocky Mountain National Park.  It begins rather mysteriously with unsettling harmony and an undulating piano idea that shifts across the keyboard while the orchestra provides longer lyric lines.  The piece slowly unfolds with an almost bittersweet melodic thread.  After a moment of darker shifts, the light begins to shimmer in this piece that becomes rather mesmerizing as it unfolds and comes to an almost abrupt end.  Another serene mountain lake inspired the following A Mirror Upon the Waters.  The melodic idea here feels somewhat connected to that of the previous work, though the music has a more sparkling quality and features nice solo wind writing for a gentle coloristic little piece that has slight cinematic touches.

    The Philadelphia ensemble is featured in two purely orchestral works.  Music for Haiti is a reflection on the more destructive side of nature being a musical response to the devastating earthquake and its aftermath.  The opening strings create a sense of looking in on desolation with a gorgeous melancholy theme that is achingly beautiful.

    Despite its title, Remembrance of Things Past, uses a Shakespearean sonnet as its departure point for a rather meditative work structured as a chaconne.  The piece is a sort of microcosm of Jacob’s orchestral style with its use of chimes, and some percussion with gorgeous spun-out thematic ideas for piano, and beautiful dialogue statements with solo instruments within the orchestra.  This particular work has an equally reflective and melancholy feel.

    Lara Turner joins Jacob for a performance of his Cello Sonata.  This is a two-movement work equally balanced in accessible harmonic language and continuing Jacob’s penchant for long-lyrical melodic ideas.  It begins with a wonderful “Lullaby” exploring some of the more lyric qualities of the cello.  The piano here is quite similar to the arpeggiated accompaniments heard in the earlier pieces.  The second movement, “Expectant; Soaring”, blends beautiful arching lyric lines with faster-paced angular ideas with a slightly more dissonant accomaniment.

    The final work on the album, Reawakening, is a sort of solo exploration of the opening piece structured similarly with an opening fugato and interesting modal harmonies.

    Jacob’s music is often cast in a semi-romantic traditional style but the repeated motifs and ideas have a slight minimalist edge to them, though the surrounding material is far more active than might otherwise be the case for that aesthetic.  The music tends to have great forward motion as we are taken on little journeys of the imagination.