While this 1998 compilation of orchestral music by
Jeffrey Jacob presents four ambitious works, the unevenness of the recordings -- with four different orchestras in very different venues -- makes this CD seem patched together from extant material and confusingly produced. However,
Jacob himself performs as the piano soloist in all the pieces, so there is at least that thread of continuity to follow, along with his consistently dark tone and brooding, elegiac expression. At the Still Point, performed by the
Moscow Symphony Orchestra under
Joel Spiegelman, is a lush, atmospheric tone poem in a neo-Romantic vein, yet its colors seem dampened in the less-than-vibrant reproduction. The concertante-like Symphony No. 2, played by
Jacob and the Baja California Orchestra, conducted by Eduardo Garcia-Barrios, is haunted and mysterious, but benefits from the clear sound that makes the timbres crisp and distinctive. De Profundis, played by the composer and the Chamber Orchestra of Rhine, led by Heiner Frost, is a rather lackluster effort in its plodding pace and murky harmonies, and the hazy sound resembles that of the first track. But the Piano Concerto No. 1, which
Jacob delivers passionately and energetically with the St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonic, directed by
Alexander Titov, seems the weakest in recording quality and orchestral color, possibly due to both engineering difficulties and insufficient rehearsal. So this is a mixed bag, but the music is worth hearing at least once.