ASO’s “Apollo and Dionysus” this Sunday at Lincoln Center
Philosophers from Plato to Nietzsche used the mythological figures of Apollo and Dionysus to represent human nature at war with itself: torn between reason, discipline, and formal beauty – and sensuality, earthly pleasure, and desire. This Sunday, May 9 at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, the American Symphony Orchestra and music director Leon Botstein will explore these dichotomous forces in a wide-ranging and richly-hued program of 20th-century works by five European composers. The concert gives listeners the chance to hear which virtues they find more attractive – the Apollonian or the Dionysian – and to discover how the two forces combine and collide to dramatic effect in the listeners’ psyches.
The ASO concert will include the New York premiere of Hymn to Apollo by English composer Sir Arthur Bliss (1891-1975), whose music a British poet said “imposed form and beauty upon our strange times.” Also on the Apollonian side, the program includes Luigi Dallapiccola’s “Frammenti Sinfonici” from his Apollo-themed ballet Marsia. As for the Dionysian, there are the two suites from Frenchman Albert Roussel’s ballet Bacchus et Ariane, along with the rarely heard Prelude to The Bacchanals by the British Granville Bantock. The brilliant German-born composer Hans Werner Henze’s Symphony No. 3 incorporates both poles, from a glowing “Invocation to Apollo” in the first movement to a saxophone-fueled bacchanal in the finale.
A New York Times review of the ASO’s February program “After the Thaw,” devoted to the music of Soviet composers in the post-Stalin era, stated: “When the American Symphony Orchestra is firing on all cylinders, its concerts can be immensely gratifying. The ensemble has strong principal players and consistently delivers creditable performances. Few programmers mine hidden corners of the orchestral repertory as avidly and shrewdly as Leon Botstein…No one contextualizes better.”
Maestro Botstein’s pre-concert talks start 75 minutes before each concert, offering added insight into the rich, unusual programming that characterizes the ASO’s Lincoln Center series. His illuminating talk on the themes of “Apollo and Dionysus” starts at 1:45pm in Avery Fisher Hall, shortly before the concert program.
All tickets to the ASO’s Lincoln Center concerts are just $25, and are available by calling (212) 868-9276 (9ASO) or visiting www.americansymphony.org. All ticket sales are final.
The American Symphony Orchestra’s 2009-10 season and programs are made possible, in part, through support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with New York City Council. Additional support is provided by Atlantic Philanthropies; Bay and Paul Foundation; Mary Duke Biddle Foundation; GG Group; Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation; HBO; Carroll, Guido, & Groffman, LLP; DuBose and Dorothy Heyward Memorial Fund; Faith Golding Foundation, Inc.; The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation; Open Society Institute; Per Annum, Inc.; Rockefeller Brothers Fund; Solon E. Summerfield Foundation Inc.; The David and Sylvia Teitelbaum Fund Inc.; and The Winston Foundation.
Sunday, May 9, 3pm
Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center
Apollo and Dionysus
Arthur Bliss: Hymn to Apollo *New York premiere
Luigi Dallapiccola: Frammenti Sinfonici from the ballet Marsia
Hans Werner Henze: Symphony No. 3
Granville Bantock: Prelude to The Bacchanals
Albert Roussel: Bacchus et Ariane, Suites Nos. 1 and 2
American Symphony Orchestra
Leon Botstein, conductor
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© 21C Media Group, May 2010