Morton Gould is one of America’s most popular composers. Relating the story of American Lizzie Borden, the famous alleged murderess who “took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks”, the Fall River Legend ballet is one of Gould’s most frequently performed and best known works. It is usually heard as a concert suite containing about half the music, compared to the full score recorded here. Like the best of his works it makes prominent use of folk melody and hymn tunes. In the Jekyll and Hyde Variations Gould chose variation form as a way of dramatizing the diverse characteristics of the split personality. He himself always considered it among his best pieces, but until now there have been few opportunities to hear it.
