Paul Jacobs
Paul Jacobs was one of the most brilliant of American pianists. Although his approach to music was intellectual, this did not prevent his interpretations from being touching and honest in feeling, as well as being exceptionally clear in execution and delineation of formal elements. He was especially well known for his crystalline approach to Debussy.
Jacobs, who grew up in the Bronx, was already a proficient pianist before he was ten. He avidly read and played through vast quantities of piano music, borrowing everything he could get from the New York Public Library system. He studied at the Third Street Music School Settlement and then at the Juilliard School with Ernest Hutchenson. He gave major New York recitals while still a teenager and played in major new music ensembles, including the Composers' Forum.
He moved to Europe in 1951, remaining there nine years. He became a familiar figure among the serial-oriented avant-garde of the time, attending the summer sessions at Darmstadt and often performing with Pierre Boulez's Domaine Musical. He was the first to perform the complete solo piano music of Arnold Schoenberg, which he recorded for the Véga label.
Jacobs continued his active participation in the new music scene when he returned to the United States in 1960. Aaron Copland said "[h]e brings to his piano playing a passion for the contemporary, and a breadth of musical and general culture such as is rare."
His recitals were predominantly devoted to the most recent music, although he also played Baroque harpsichord music, having come to love the sound of the instrument through his involvement in performances of Elliott Carter's Double Concerto for harpsichord and piano with two orchestras.
He frequently gave premieres, including works of Stockhausen, Boulez, Berio, Henze, Messiaen, Sessions, Carter, and many others. He also became known for the clarity and emotion he gave to the late Beethoven and Schubert sonatas. He played with the leading new music ensembles on the New York scene, such as the Contemporary Innovations series organized by Gunther Schuller, the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, and the Fromm Fellowship Players.
In 1962, Leonard Bernstein appointed him the official pianist of the New York Philharmonic, and in 1974, added official harpsichordist to Jacobs' title. Jacobs remained in those positions until his death.
He was an active teacher, and although he taught frequently at Tanglewood, the Mannes School, and the Manhattan School of Music, his lasting affiliation was at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, beginning in 1968, also remaining there until death. He was by all accounts exceptionally energetic, constantly organizing concerts and lecture series. He tended to stay in New York, rather than undertake the life of a touring concert virtuoso.
He recorded for several labels. Among his most cherished LPs were the 15 released on the Nonesuch label, including music of Schoenberg, Debussy, Stravinsky, Carter, Messiaen, Ravel, Thompson, Bartók, Mozart, and Beethoven, and especially the original piano music of Ferruccio Busoni, recorded between 1976 and 1979. (Although some of these recordings were reissued when Nonesuch revived as a compact disc label, the highly regarded Busoni series' rights reverted elsewhere and remained out of print for nearly 20 years until they reappeared on the Arbiter label in 2000, along with some of his other hard-to-find piano recordings.)
He died in 1983.
© TiVo
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Discography
19 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Bernstein, Barber, Crawford & Ives: Americans
James Gaffigan, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Paul Jacobs
Symfonieën - Released by harmonia mundi on 28 mei 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Michael Daugherty: Tales of Hemingway, American Gothic & Once upon a Castle (Live)
Zuill Bailey, Paul Jacobs, Nashville Symphony, Giancarlo Guerrero
Klassiek - Released by Naxos on 9 sep. 2016
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Paul Jacobs Plays Bach (An Unedited Release)
Klassiek - Released by Jav Recordings, Inc on 1 jan. 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Introduction à la musique sérielle (Mono Version)
Antoine Goléa, Pierre Boulez, Paul Jacobs
Klassiek - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1960
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: Preludes for Piano, Books I & II
Klassiek - Released by Nonesuch on 1 jan. 1978
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: Images / Estampes
Klassiek - Released by Nonesuch on 1 jan. 1979
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pink Dogs on the Green Grass
Alternative en Indie - Released by Blow The Fuse on 30 apr. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schoenberg: Piano Music
Klassiek - Released by Nonesuch on 1 jan. 1975
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Livre du Saint Sacrement
Klassiek - Released by Naxos on 21 sep. 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schoenberg: Pièces pour piano, Ops. 11, 19, 23, 25 & 33 (Mono Version)
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1958
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Happy Days 1999 (Vol. 1) (Remastered)
House - Released by Stickman Records on 7 apr. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
185 on the Corner
Alternative en Indie - Released by Bonsound on 8 jul. 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pictures, Movies and Apartments
Punk en New Wave - Released by Rec Records on 3 feb. 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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ROCO in Concert: Musical Mélange and Organ Solo
Klassiek - Released by RoCo on 1 feb. 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Spanish Fly
House - Released by Essential 12 Classics on 27 okt. 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Toronto Underground Vol. 2
Electronic - Released by Essential Media Group on 5 sep. 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Take That to the Bank
House - Released by Essential 12 Classics on 27 okt. 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo