‘A ravishing disc of Belgian masterpieces’
Lisa Jacobs (who plays the piano-accompanied version of the Poème élégiaque, alongside the op. 21 Extase) emphasises the music’s impassioned eloquence with a cantabile of beguiling radiance.
The stand-out performance here is, however, the Franck Sonata, captured at a discreet distance from the microphones, creating the uncanny impression of this deeply sensual score being experienced through a heat-haze. As a result the pseudo-orchestral writing of the second movement Allegro emerges as an imposing cathedral of sound, with Jacobs’s exultant phrasing and captivating sonority reaching new heights in the finale’s soaring lyricism. The Strad, UK, October 2014
‘Sensual allure in Jacobs’s deeply felt, beguilingly phrased readings’ BBC Music Magazine, UK, May 2014
Ideale combinatie van hartstocht, lyriek en virtuositeit ***** Luister Magazine, NL, March 2014
Kamermuziek van wereldniveau Platomania, February 2014
An irresistible, nearly overwhelming whole Fanfare USA, January 2014