LOWELL LIEBERMANN: FRANKENSTEIN
Martin West
San Francisco Ballet Orchestra
Reference Recordings RR-148

TRACK LISTING

  1. Disc 1: ACT I

  2. Prologue: Geneva, 1775 (5:46)

  3. Scene 1: Geneva, 1788, The Frankenstein Manor (5:27)

  4. Elizabeth and Victor (6:02)

  5. Elizabeth and Victor Announce Their Engagement (5:35)

  6. Scene 2: The Frankenstein Cemetery (2:34)

  7. Interlude (0:44)

  8. Scene 3: The Anatomy Theatre at Ingolstadt University (0:50)

  9. The Students Enter (1:49)

  10. The Anatomy Lesson (7:34)

  11. Scene 4: The Tavern at Ingolstadt (4:39)

  12. Scene 5: The Anatomy Theatre (6:48)

  13. The Creature Lives! (2:13)

  14. Disc 2: ACT II

  15. Prologue: Victor’s Bedchamber in the Frankenstein Manor (3:23)

  16. Scene 1: Geneva, 1795, Outside the Frankenstein Manor (4:37)

  17. Elizabeth and Victor (6:53)

  18. The Creature Solo (6:08)

  19. William's Birthday (4:49)

  20. Blind Man’s Bluff (2:07)

  21. The Creature Kills William (5:58)

  22. Justine Solo (3:03)

  23. Victor and the Creature (2:07)

  24. Scene 2: A Back Alley in Geneva, Justine is Executed (1:06)

  25. ACT III

  26. Prologue: The Ballroom at the Frankenstein Manor (0:35)

  27. Waltz (6:55)

  28. Interlude (0:49)

  29. Elizabeth and Victor (4:34)

  30. Henry Solo (1:40)

  31. Waltz Reprise (1:55)

  32. General Panic (2:01)

  33. The Creature Kills Henry and Dances with Elizabeth (0:29)

  34. Elizabeth and the Creature (4:37)

  35. Victor and the Creature (5:21)

REVIEWS

“Lowell Liebermann’s score has a distinctly visual, plot-driven and dramatic character, and is absolutely brilliantly orchestrated, so that it is a great pleasure to hear this imaginative, colorful and richly ornamented music, pleasantly rich in movement. The distinctive themes for the acting characters and the descriptive music make it easy to follow the action purely aurally, without seeing the ballet. In the process, the scenes become so characteristic that on a second listen-through at random, I recognized over 75% of the scenes and was able to associate them with their titles, whether in the love scenes or the terrifying moments where the ‘creature’ gets the upper hand. The performance by the excellent San Francisco Ballet Orchestra under its Music Director, Martin West is atmospheric and evocative. Frankenstein is undoubtedly a ballet score that joins the ranks of great works in the genre.” —Remy Franck, Pizzicato

“The orchestra plays magnificently under the well-paced leadership of Martin West…The sonics on this Reference recording are ne plus ultra, as far as my 71-year-old ears can ascertain. For a powerful and satisfying musical wallop, I doubt you’ll find another CD any time soon that can match what you’ll hear on this one. Recommended with unbridled enthusiasm and as a very strong Want List contender for 2022. Five Stars: A magnificent and exciting new ballet that will become a repertory staple.” —David DeBoor Canfield, Fanfare

“[Liebermann’s] skill at portraying immediately recognisable emotional states meshes well with Scarlett’s focus on the themes of loneliness and loss that underlie the story’s Gothic shocks. … admirable craftsmanship and fluently colourful orchestration… sympathetic portrayal… Music director Martin West inspires committed playing” —Gramophone

“San Francisco Ballet Orchestra does a splendid job of rendering Liebermann’s score. As a live recording of the ballet production, stage noises, including the dancers’ steps, and a cough or two are sometimes audible, but they merely add to the live character of the event. … Liebermann’s score…memorably shifts between lyricism and anguish as the story alternates between scenes of the family and the creature. … masterfully realized and an inspired rendering of the story into musical form.” —Ron Schepper, Textura

“Liebermann and [Liam] Scarlett have created a truly modern three-Act masterpiece that keeps you rooted to your seat. The choreography by Scarlett has come in for high praise, but the music is terrific, and it is this element that concerns us here. Indeed, Liebermann’s inspirational vein shines from beginning to end, and the emotional power of his music simply carries all before it. The story is punctuated by several episodes expressing anger, suffering, regret, wishfulness and, above all, love, but Liebermann’s gift of communicating such volatile human emotions is consistently alive. … Recorded live from the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco, the performance has an electrifying aura about it, with Martin West ensuring that the balance between the dramatic and the lyrical is tightly kept. Despite the unsavoury story, this is music that takes you into a world of its own. Just try it.” —Gerald Fenech, Classical Music Daily

“…beautiful and lush…Liebermann…makes a compelling case for the humanist melodrama at the story’s core and commits fully to the long-form narrative. It all works well—and the music will just about sweep you off your feet.” —Nathan Faro, American Record Guide

“This is a major work and a significant recording. Highest recommendation.” —Myron Silberstein, Fanfare

“…this score will easily sweep you along with it as you listen to it. At its best, the music here is extraordinarily powerful and uncommonly suptuous. A symphonic masterpiece trapped within the confines of a ballet.” —- MusicWeb International

“Lowell Liebermann…is a remarkably talented musician, pianist and composer…Liebermann posseses a compositional style that combines elements of the traditional tonal style with ambitious harmonies, polytonalities, bitonalities and polyrhythmias, making his music of great charm and eclecticism…Liebermann thus realizes a really very beautiful work, of great scenic and dramatic impact, which goes beyond contemporary experimentation (definitely a surprise these days), describing and characterizing the figure of Frankenstein in a really profound way, through a tonal and descriptive, almost filmic, musical language…” ——kathodik.org