Artist:
Raymond J. Lustig
Charlotte Mundy
The Rhythm Method
Genre:
Classical
Total Time:
65:28
Record Label:
Sono Luminus
Purchase Album:
CD, Amazon Music,
Apple Music, Spotify
Release Date
April 17, 2026
Find out more about this album release after the jump.
Raymond J. Lustig
Charlotte Mundy
The Rhythm Method
Genre:
Classical
Total Time:
65:28
Record Label:
Sono Luminus
Purchase Album:
CD, Amazon Music,
Apple Music, Spotify
Release Date
April 17, 2026
Find out more about this album release after the jump.
Purchasing Links
Product Description: For many years, composer Raymond Lustig has been intrigued and inspired by Dr. Semmelweis. He first conceived of a stage work around the doctor’s story in 2007. At the time, he was a graduate student in music, but he had spent several years doing biomedical research. After many iterations, the fully staged production of SEMMELWEIS came to fruition in 2018, when Lustig joined forces with writer Matthew Doherty and Hungarian director Martin Boross, and the world premiere performances were presented by Budapest Operetta Theatre and Bartók Plusz Opera Festival.
The song cycle recorded here derives from that production. “Our goal was to make a true studio album, rather than a capture of the stage work,” Lustig says. “I knew I wanted to work with Charlotte Mundy, whose voice has always been the ideal for me for this work. We then decided that, rather than try to build a choir of matching female voices, we would instead use only Charlotte’s voice, multiplied over itself, spread out in the stereo field, one unified voice totally surrounding and overwhelming. These female voices often represent a chorus of ghosts of the mothers he could not save (or ‘mother ghosts,’ as we call them), who haunt Dr. Semmelweis. Engineer and co-producer Maximilien Hein and I, as well as engineer Drew Schlingman, recorded with the musicians in my studio at Respirano on Hudson and at The Hit Factory in New York. The theatrical experience and private listening are very different. We knew we needed to rebuild the music from the ground up, reconsidering every detail, refining and elaborating, revising and revising, to get to the true emotional heart of the story as an auditory experience.”
The entire action of SEMMELWEIS may be seen as a reflection – a fever dream or death dream – of Ignaz Semmelweis’ inner psyche at his life’s end. Dr. Semmelweis re-experiences events from throughout his life, perhaps out of sequence, distorted, or unreliable, as if through a lens of a mind in turmoil.
“We envisioned it as a story made of glass that had fallen to the floor, smashed, and the shards lay there reflecting only segments of the meaning, but somehow, gazing upon all of them, letting them come back together in the mind, the meaning might be perceived,” explains Lustig. “Maybe, or maybe just partially, or maybe not at all.”
The song cycle recorded here derives from that production. “Our goal was to make a true studio album, rather than a capture of the stage work,” Lustig says. “I knew I wanted to work with Charlotte Mundy, whose voice has always been the ideal for me for this work. We then decided that, rather than try to build a choir of matching female voices, we would instead use only Charlotte’s voice, multiplied over itself, spread out in the stereo field, one unified voice totally surrounding and overwhelming. These female voices often represent a chorus of ghosts of the mothers he could not save (or ‘mother ghosts,’ as we call them), who haunt Dr. Semmelweis. Engineer and co-producer Maximilien Hein and I, as well as engineer Drew Schlingman, recorded with the musicians in my studio at Respirano on Hudson and at The Hit Factory in New York. The theatrical experience and private listening are very different. We knew we needed to rebuild the music from the ground up, reconsidering every detail, refining and elaborating, revising and revising, to get to the true emotional heart of the story as an auditory experience.”
The entire action of SEMMELWEIS may be seen as a reflection – a fever dream or death dream – of Ignaz Semmelweis’ inner psyche at his life’s end. Dr. Semmelweis re-experiences events from throughout his life, perhaps out of sequence, distorted, or unreliable, as if through a lens of a mind in turmoil.
“We envisioned it as a story made of glass that had fallen to the floor, smashed, and the shards lay there reflecting only segments of the meaning, but somehow, gazing upon all of them, letting them come back together in the mind, the meaning might be perceived,” explains Lustig. “Maybe, or maybe just partially, or maybe not at all.”
TRACK LIST:
1 .
Semmelweis: No. 1, What Is the Day
Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy
(05:39)
2 . Semmelweis: No. 2, Market Squares Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (01:45)
3 . Semmelweis: No. 3, Give Birth on the Earthworks Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (03:09)
4 . Semmelweis: No. 4, Best Idea Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (02:45)
5 . Semmelweis: No. 5, My Doctor's Hands Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (00:57)
6 . Semmelweis: No. 6, Never a Choice Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (04:02)
7 . Semmelweis: No. 7, Out in the Yard Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (01:10)
8 . Semmelweis: No. 8, Archaeology Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (03:32)
9 . Semmelweis: No. 9, Our Skin So Fair Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (05:11)
10 . Semmelweis: No. 10, As If Your Body Were a Cathedral Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (03:11)
11 . Semmelweis: No. 11, You Cannot Stay (00:52)
12 . Semmelweis: No. 12, My Dark Disgrace Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (04:07)
13 . Semmelweis: No. 13, Etiology (03:54)
14 . Semmelweis: No. 14, Eureka Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (05:53)
15 . Semmelweis: No. 15, I Am the Experiment Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (04:23)
16 . Semmelweis: No. 16, Madness (02:11)
17 . Semmelweis: No. 17, Once a Candle Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (01:36)
18 . Semmelweis: No. 18, The Only One Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (05:52)
19 . Semmelweis: No. 19, Lullaby Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (03:36)
20 .Semmelweis: No. 20, Finale (01:53)
2 . Semmelweis: No. 2, Market Squares Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (01:45)
3 . Semmelweis: No. 3, Give Birth on the Earthworks Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (03:09)
4 . Semmelweis: No. 4, Best Idea Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (02:45)
5 . Semmelweis: No. 5, My Doctor's Hands Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (00:57)
6 . Semmelweis: No. 6, Never a Choice Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (04:02)
7 . Semmelweis: No. 7, Out in the Yard Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (01:10)
8 . Semmelweis: No. 8, Archaeology Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (03:32)
9 . Semmelweis: No. 9, Our Skin So Fair Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (05:11)
10 . Semmelweis: No. 10, As If Your Body Were a Cathedral Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (03:11)
11 . Semmelweis: No. 11, You Cannot Stay (00:52)
12 . Semmelweis: No. 12, My Dark Disgrace Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (04:07)
13 . Semmelweis: No. 13, Etiology (03:54)
14 . Semmelweis: No. 14, Eureka Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (05:53)
15 . Semmelweis: No. 15, I Am the Experiment Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (04:23)
16 . Semmelweis: No. 16, Madness (02:11)
17 . Semmelweis: No. 17, Once a Candle Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (01:36)
18 . Semmelweis: No. 18, The Only One Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (05:52)
19 . Semmelweis: No. 19, Lullaby Raymond J. Lustig, The Rhythm Method & Charlotte Mundy (03:36)
20 .Semmelweis: No. 20, Finale (01:53)
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