…of all sorts…
“…your new release, Addressing Wonder. It is all very moving, and you have a recognizable voice, so rare these days among composers, I find. Also, you do large-scale shapes like no one else, bravo.
Steve Beck steals the show in “Addressing Wonder”, and your voicings of chords, especially around 2:00 are so delicious, a real treat. I love Sharon Harms’s work on “Palladium”, she sings as if it’s her last act on earth, love that; and the commentary on the piano, at ca. 5:30 is a wonderful break, very smart to let the ear ‘reset’ with a new instrument color, and to give the singer a rest, too. That you are equally at home in the electronic music sphere is astonishing. “al momento” is a wonder, of both the acoustic and electronic. You seem to have an affinity for the cello, and its cousin on synthetic sounds, this was pure joy to listen to. There is an eerie immediacy to “The Line Between”, almost like a dream-improvisation. That you were able to ‘remember’ that dream and to bring it back to life is the stuff of Virgil and Dante, well done, Eddie, very impressive retrospective.” [Randa K, March 18, 2021.]
“Edward Jacobs’s 14-minute Passed Time (2006) … becomes another complex, intricate marvel that makes us wonder how the composer can dream it up, and how the group can execute it so deftly.” [Kilpatrick, American Record Guide, Jan/Feb. 2017]
“A Function of Memory for clarinet and tape is a very interesting piece.” [Justin Stanley, ICA Journal, 2015]
echoes, shadows (piano & fixed media): “It was a shame that the piece was awful…the piece was a jumbled sectional mess of acid-tripping-three-legged-cat-on-piano.” [Lee Hartman, KCMetropolis.org, September 15, 2010]
When Time (SATB choir): “When the writing was more solidly chordal — as in …Edward Jacobs’s intriguingly morphing When Time (2007) — the singing was decidedly better.” [Allan Kozinn, NYTimes.com, June 6, 2008]
Time As A Fly (string quintet): “The piece is not as accessible to the general audience as some contemporary compositions, but it is not as off-putting as many such pieces. Time as a Fly resembles a musical version of abstract art, something that might grow on the listener.” … “It’s great if you like that sort of thing.” [Steve Row, Classical Voice NC (CVNC.org), April 25, 2008]
In At Recess, We Play Jacobs convincingly reflects an elegant rhythmic design and cascading timbral gestures. imparting to the work a strong sense of kinetic energy.” [Andrew RIndfleisch, Notes, the MLA Journal, Sept. 1997]