IDAGIO | Gould: Fall River Legend - Jekyll and Hyde Variations 0636943924228

Featuring

Kenneth Schermerhorn
James F. Neal
Nashville Symphony
Morton Gould

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Performer Biography

Kenneth Schermerhorn, the conductor, studied with Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood, where he won the Sergey Koussevitzky Prize, and later became Bernstein's assistant conductor at the New York Philharmonic.

Recording & Production

This recording offers a rare opportunity to hear Morton Gould's Jekyll and Hyde Variations, a work the composer considered among his best but which has had few performance opportunities.

Composition History

Morton Gould, the composer, nearly lost the commission for his ballet Fall River Legend because the choreographer, Agnes DeMille, knew him only for his 'popular' music and light classics.

Compositional Technique

Morton Gould's Jekyll and Hyde Variations uses a twelve-tone system, a compositional technique created by Arnold Schoenberg, to explore the split personality of the characters.

Composition History

For the ballet Fall River Legend, composer Morton Gould suggested that Lizzie Borden, the historical figure it depicts, should be hanged in the ballet, calling it 'justifiable poetic license'.

Performer Biography

Kenneth Schermerhorn, the conductor, was music director of the Nashville Symphony for over twenty years and had guest engagements with orchestras across Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Americas.

Critical Reception

Morton Gould's Jekyll and Hyde Variations was not well-received at its 1957 premiere because audiences and critics struggled to accept him as a serious composer, due to his reputation for popular works.