Taylor Deems: Through the Looking Glass

The opulent and sensual expressiveness in these composers’ works has long been obscured by more turbulent developments in music of the 20th century. One of Deems Taylor’s most successful compositions, Through the Looking Glass celebrates Alice in Wonderland, each of its five sections corresponding to passages or episodes from this enchanting tale. Influenced by the German Romantics and French Impressionists, Charles Tomlinson Griffes’ rich harmonic palette and orchestral colors can be heard in the Poem written for flutist Georges Barrère, the landscapes of the Three Tone Pictures and poetry of The White Peacock, while Kubla Khan and the Bacchanale share exotic oriental inspiration.