Oct 5, 2015 3 min read

When Washington native Paul Jacobs and soprano Christine Brewer were in the ornate, century-old Church of the Gesu in Milwaukee recording a series of ethereal classical works, they had to worry about things that were decidedly down to earth.

Over three days in August 2013, the “record” button was pushed in the evening, so that the sensitive microphones in the French Gothic cathedral would not also capture the rumble of traffic outside the massive edifice.

Nevertheless, their nighttime work, with Jacobs in the organ loft, was sometimes punctuated by the sounds of sirens and other worldly intrusions.

In those frustrating moments, they had to start from the top, “but for the most part, it was pleasant and wonderful,” Jacobs recalled over the phone from his office at the Juilliard School, where the 1995 graduate of Trinity High School is chairman of the organ department.

Two years later, the work by Jacobs and Brewer has surfaced in the form of “The Divine Reedemer,” an hourlong collection of works by Bach, Puccini, Handel, “Ave Maria” comoposer Charles Gounod and others on the Naxos classical imprint. Brewer is a St. Louis native who was named one of the 20 best sopranos of the 20th century by BBC Music Magazine in 2007, and she and Jacobs first worked together when they were part of a 2010 presentation by the Chicago Symphony and Chorus of works by composer Leos Janacek.

“We got to know each other during that period, and it seemed natural that we would work together,” Jacobs said.

When they decided to make “The Divine Redeemer,” they had a brainstorming session to determine what they would record and the order in which they would record it. They wanted a mix of both well-known material and works that are less recognized, Jacobs said. The days were long when they were making “The Divine Redeemer” – mornings and afternoons were given over to intensive rehearsals before evening recording work.

Why did two years pass before it was released? It was “not intentional,” according to Jacobs.

“Christine and I both lead busy lives, and it got away from us,” Jacobs said. “We realized it had to be shared.” They’ve each cleared their schedule for concerts that will showcase the material on “The Divine Redeemer” at concerts in Atlanta, St. Louis, San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles. Jacobs is also due back in the Pittsburgh area for a Feb. 13 concert at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe.

“The Divine Redeemer” is the sixth album on which Jacobs has appeared. A 2010 disc, a recording of Olivier Messiaen’s “Livre du Saint-Sacrement,” won Jacobs a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Solo Performance.

Jacobs prefers live performance to recording, but said that he has been “under increasing pressure” to create more albums from friends, audience and management, “and I probably will.”

In the meantime, Jacobs practices for several hours a day and is continuing his teaching duties at Juilliard, where he has been on the faculty since 2003.

“This is perhaps the strongest class I have had,” he said. “They are very bright students who play at a high caliber.”