REAWAKENING

tHE MUSIC OF JEFFREY JACOB

 

OVERVIEW

 

Composer and pianist Jeffrey Jacob returns to Navona Records with REAWAKENING, a collection of varied works for orchestra and chamber ensembles. Jacob’s lush, mystical style pervades the album, often blending his piano’s sound with orchestral arrangements to create rich musical imagery, as in The Loch Before Sunrise and A Mirror Upon the Waters.

 

The title work is a composition for piano and orchestra, which was debuted on Ansonica Records' second Cuba-based album INTERSECTIONS. It’s one of the first pieces by an American composer to be recorded by the Cuban National Symphony in 50 years. Jacob found inspiration from Thomas Hardy’s poem of the same name, writing that Hardy’s “unforgettable images of the natural world as it struggles toward spring and rebirth were irresistible.”

 

The Loch Before Sunrise and A Mirror Upon the Waters follow, both colorful works for piano and orchestra that explore imagery from different Alpine lakes. Music for Haiti for piccolo and strings contrasts these themes, evoking the sorrow, loss, hopefulness, and rebirth of Haiti following the devastation of its recent earthquake.

 

Remembrance of Things Past, another piece inspired by literature, takes its title from a Shakespearean sonnet. It features a soloist showcase for oboe, as well as a meditative chaconne. Jacob’s Sonata for Cello and Piano has two remarkable contrasting movements, opposing the gentle opening “Lullaby” with a faster, more anxious movement with sweeping melodic lines. The album closes with a work for solo piano Rewakening, recalling the opening piece and bringing the album full circle.

 

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HIGHLIGHTS

 

Jeffery Jacob, a pianist and composer, has had his works performed worldwide by several high-profile ensembles. Notable premieres include his Symphony: Winter Lightning by Raymond Leppard and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Sleeping at Last by the Gregg Smith Singers, Persistence of Memory by the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, and his first two piano concertos by the Moscow and St. Petersburg Symphonies, with himself as soloist.

 

One of the first American composed pieces to be recorded by the Cuban National Symphony in five decades, REAWAKENING’s title track finds Jacob seizing the opportunity to explore themes of rebirth which coincide with the renewed relationship between the two nations.

 

Warsaw Music Journal described Jacob as “unquestionably one of the greatest performers of 20th-century music,” while the New York Times declared him an “artist of intense concentration and conviction.” He was recently named “Musician of the Year” by the International New Music Consortium at New York University.

 

Jacob’s work as a composer, pianist and educator recently earned him an Artist of the Year Award from the International New Music Consortium at New York University.

 

www.jeffreyjacob.org

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ALSO ON NAVONA RECORDS

 

(NV5974) DARKNESS TO LIGHT

Jeffrey Jacob

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Release Date: April 14, 2017

Catalog #: NV6087

 

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TRACK INFO

 

The Music of Jeffrey Jacob

 

01   Awakening FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA

National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba  |  Enrique Perez Mesa conductor

Jeffrey Jacob pianist

 

02   The Loch before Sunrise

The Capital Philharmonic of New Jersey |  Daniel Spalding conductor

Jeffrey Jacob pianist

 

03   A Mirror upon the Waters

The Capital Philharmonic of New Jersey  |  Daniel Spalding conductor

Jeffrey Jacob pianist

 

04   Music for Haiti

The Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra  |  Daniel Spalding conductor

 

05   Remembrance of Things Past

The Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra |  Daniel Spalding conductor

 

Sonata for Cello and Piano

Lara Turner cello Jeffrey Jacob piano

06  Lullaby

07  Expectant; Soaring

 

08   Reawakening

Jeffrey Jacob piano

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CREDITS

 

Awakening FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA

Recorded April 18, 2016 at Abdala Studios, in Havana, Cuba

Recording Session Producer Dayron Ortega

Recording Session Engineer José Raúl Varona

 

The Loch before Sunrise & A Mirror upon the Waters

Recorded October 22, 2014 at the War Memorial Auditorium, in Trenton NJ

Session Producer and Engineer Brad Zabelski

 

Music for Haiti & Remembrance of Things Past

Recorded June 23, 2012 at the Episcopal Church of the Advocate, in Philadelphia PA

Session Producer and Engineer Stephen Rossmeisl

 

Sonata for Cello and Piano

Recorded May 15, 2016 at Saint Mary’s College, in South Bend IN

Session Producer and Engineer David Murray

 

Reawakening

Recorded July 2, 2016 at Saint Mary’s College, in South Bend IN

Session Producer and Engineer David Murray

 

Executive Producer Bob Lord

Executive A&R Sam Renshaw

A&R Alex Bourne

Audio Director Jeff LeRoy

Mastering Lucas Paquette

Art & Production Director Brett Picknell

Graphic Design Ryan Harrison

Marketing Samantha Granville, John Higgins