DESCRIPTION:
Performed live by soprano Lucy Dhegrae at Spectrum, New York City, 4 May 2014.

"Dithyramb is an excerpt of a larger work, Tongues, which was inspired in part glossolalia, better known as "speaking in tongues": an ecstatic outburst of unintelligible vocal sounds that resembles spoken language. The vocal writing in here evokes the volatile grip of possession that is said to hold the human vessels through which the divine or supernatural passes.

"A Dithyramb is an ancient Greek hymn, sung in honor of Dionysus, the god of wine and pleasure. Performances were said to be riotously ecstatic."

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