“The cellist Eric Jacobsen provided a compelling focus to Vincent Ho’s “Stigmata,” spinning its microtonal smears, glassy hisses and throaty growls into a ruminative strand.” The New York Times “The lyric cellist Eric Jacobsen” “…beefy base of cello lines…” “…enlightening, moving, and entertaining.” The New York Sun “A rich controlled tone coupled with a fine sense of the music gives one the feeling he is going places.” The Post Star “…rich instrumental timbre…sheer musical enthusiasm…” The Strad    “potent cello sound” Herald Times “Gusto is also an apt way to describe the playing of a (mostly) young chamber group – violinists Vera Beths, Jonathan Gandelsman, violinist-violist, Colin Jacobsen, violist Nicholas Cords and cellists Eric Jacobsen, and Raman Ramakrishnan – who crowded on to Bargemusic’s small stage for a richly satisfying programme…the performers relished in every twist and turn.” The Strad   “At Bargemusic…violinist Timothy Fain, cellist Eric Jacobsen and pianist Steven Beck played scintillating accounts of Mendelsshon’s Trio in D minor op. 49 and Copland’s Vitebsk. The first, last on the programme, was blessedly free of any spot of semtimentality, its four movements energized but never pushed and distinguished by carefully calculated instrumental balances. Preceding the trios were fluent accounts by Beck and, respectively, Fain and Jacobsen of Mendelssohn’s rather ungrateful Violin Sonata in F minor, op. 4 and Bruch’s Kol Nidre. One admired the fluency of both string players…” The Strad It opened with a singing, lovelorn phrase that could have been stolen from a Mozart opera.The tempo picked up as rhythmic motives engulfed themselves in the manner of Beethoven. Then mournful sweeps cut through sonic whispers and shadows, sharp cello attacks flanked fiddle spins, and the canonic echoes continued through the witty, Haydn-style conclusion. Who was the composer? Luigi Cherubini, a name I surely wouldn’t have known had I not visited Bargemusic Thursday night. Dutch violinist Vera Beths had flown in from Amsterdam to join forces with some of New York’s best rising string players for a tour through Cherubini’s Second Quartet in C major. Also on the program were a seldom-heard Boccherini Quintet (the F minor, Op. 42, No. 1) and Schönberg’s “Verklärte Nacht” in its original quintet version. Many of New York’s most intriguing musical conjunctions occur on Olga Bloom’s wood-lined barge, docked next to the Brooklyn Bridge at Fulton Ferry Landing. But the juxtaposition of a seasoned violinist known for period-instrument performances with the chamber ensemble L’Archibudelli and a thoroughly Romantic troupe of young all-stars with degrees from Harvard, Curtis, and Juilliard was curious even by Bargemusic standards.Yet how they came together seems trivial considering how artfully they collaborated. Cherubini, as violinist and violist Colin Jacobsen explained at the top of the show, was one of Beethoven’s favorite composers. His methods of motive development and brash changes of moods, as well as his proto-Romantic textures, influenced some of the Romantic era’s greatest colorists. Ms. Beths’s sweet sound and angelic vibrato gave his work the leadership it required, while second violinist Jonathan Gandelsman and violist Nicholas Cords created an admirable climate of tension. When the bright section of the slow second movement arrived, Raman Ramakrishnan offered furious cello gestures, while Ms. Beths’s impetuous ascents arrived at playful harmonic peaks.This was honest, heart-on-the-sleeve playing, and in these musician’s hands, I could easily see why Beethoven would have been drawn to such material. The Boccherini, led by Mr. Jacobsen, was more stark and superficial but nearly as successful. Mr. Jacobsen has a rich sound, but in this work he played quite lightly, very flautando, to mimic the period style. He could be purposefully scraggly, playing fast runs in the upper half of his bow. But his cadenzas were crystal-clear, with zippy string crossings. In the second movement, the inner voices combined for a feathery series of repeated notes over a beefy base of cello lines. And the sly, descending chromatics of the last movement gave each series of fast triplets a surprising, teasing cadence. By the time the entire ensemble — including the lyric cellist Eric Jacobsen, Colin’s brother — reassembled for a textured, wonderfully moody performance of the Schönberg, a clear image of the program came into view. Here was a collection of composers of disparate periods who toyed with instrumental colors in inventive and innovative ways. In the Schönberg, the ensemble varied between Mendelssohnian moments of dreamy, soft-string crossings and Mahlerian moments of late-Romantic fury. The group’s texturally transparent reading never telegraphed its sonic destinations; each arrival was a surprise. A work by a composer like Cherubini is the sort of thing that, listed in a contemporary arts magazine, probably inspires most potential concertgoers to consider other concert options. But as played by Thursday’s artists it proved to be enlightening, moving, and entertaining. I left wondering just how many more works like his were out there waiting to be heard. The New York Sun “Bargemusic regulars took up much of the British ensemble’s planned repertoire on shot notice and with impressive results…the quartet’s music making was a delight … Indeed. The finale of the Mozart was notable for its stylish airiness, yet there were myriad expressive touches, most memorable in the long-held viola notes at the movement’s end, which [Nicholas] Cords transformed into soul-stirring exhalations. The Schumann was more controversial, virtually shorn, as it were, or the usual Romantic rhetoric. Instead of lingering over juicy melodies, the players clarified the music’s textures, often finding telling details…” The New York Sun "...featured in the Concert for Peace, presented by Musicians for Harmony on Tuesday at Symphony Space...Ms. Wu was joined by Colin Jacobsen, a violinist, and his brother, Eric Jacobsen, a cellist, in a stellar rendition of Chen Yi's 'Ning.'" The New York Times "The Knights, a young, energetic chamber orchestra formed by the cellist and conductor Eric Jacobsen and his brother, the violinist Colin Jacobsen, has been turning up with increasing frequency since 2006, as both a standard repertory ensemble and a new-music band...But in the Beethoven, Mr. Jacobsen was an interpretive dynamo. With its consistently brisk tempos and spotlighted inner voices, the "Pastoral" Symphony was a modern city boy's vision of the countryside: no dreamy dawdling here, just an oxygen-fueled romp painted in vivid hues. The vigor, thankfully, did not tax the work's beauty. The birds of the second movement sang sweetly (if quickly), and the orchestra played the thunderstorm for all its pounding heft, with the Sheperds' Song as a refreshingly vital finale." The New York Times