DOM CLÉMENT JACOB (1906-1977): Piano Sonatas No. 5 & No. 14, Nocturnes Nos. 2 & 3, Barcarolles Nos. 3 & 4.

Description: A student of Koechlin and Gédalge and member of the Ecole d'Arcueil, a group formed around Satie, Jacob's career turned 180 degrees when he converted to Catholicism and became a Benedictine monk in 1929. He wrote 15 piano sonatas in the next 20 years, three of which were offered here in December 2005 (12H010 - no longer available). Like many of them, No. 5 (1941) is generally neo-classical in style but No. 14 of 1950 radiates a pastoral, calm tranquility. The Barcarolles (1963) are tributes to Fauré and the Nocturnes, written at various times in the 1950s, are, in turn, agitated and prayerful. Bernard Arbus (piano).