Apollo and Dionysus

Apollo and Dionysus By Leon Botstein Written for the concert Apollo and Dionysus, performed on May 9, 2010 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. It is difficult to imagine a history of Western art that does not begin with the legacy of the classical world. Indeed the entire notion of “Western,” the idea of…

Sir Arthur Bliss, Hymn to Apollo By John Wright, 2010, The Arthur Bliss Society (arthurbliss.org) Written for the concert Apollo and Dionysus, performed on May 9, 2010 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. It has never been easy to pin a convenient label to the music of Sir Arthur Bliss, encompassing as he does…

Luigi Dallapiccola, Frammenti Sinfonici from the ballet Marsia By Byron Adams Written for the concert Apollo and Dionysus, performed on May 9, 2010 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. Phoebus Apollo may have been the golden god of music, healing, and the life-giving sun, radiating light from the nimbus around his head, but he could be…

Hans Werner Henze, Symphony No. 3 (1949–50) By Byron Adams Written for the concert Apollo and Dionysus, performed on May 9, 2010 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. An Apollonian concept of “beauty” has always been an essential part of Han Werner Henze’s aesthetics. Henze’s espousal of the beautiful in music is far from…

Granville Bantock, Prelude to ‘The Bacchanals’ By Lewis Foreman Written for the concert Apollo and Dionysus, performed on May 9, 2010 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. The British composer Granville Bantock succeeded Elgar as Richard Peyton Professor of Music at Birmingham University in 1908 and remained there for more than twenty years while…

Albert Roussel, Bacchus et Ariane By Fred Kirshnit Written for the concert Apollo and Dionysus, performed on May 9, 2010 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. For oenophiles, the name Bacchus et Ariane may conjure delights of the famous Parisian wine shop, while visitors to the National Gallery may first think of the Titian…