Milton Babbitt - 100 Years, 3. Works for other solo instruments, synthesizer and tape.

I love going to the studio with my work in my head, realizing it while I am there and walking out with the tape under my arm. I can then send it anywhere in the world, knowing exactly how it will sound. - Milton Babbitt ⁽¹⁾

In the 1960s Milton Babbitt (1916 - 2011) composed a number of compositions for synthesizer relishing the degree of control of execution this new medium provided. He was one of electronic music's pioneers who worked with the Mark II synthesizer at the new Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. ⁽²⁾

Composition for Synthesizer (1961) and Ensembles for Synthesizer (1964).





Alongside this interest in electronic music Babbitt continued to compose for acoustic instruments and applied his enhanced twelve-tone techniques using all kinds of  arrays, to many different solo instruments, sometimes enhanced with synthesized tape.  Let's listen to some examples.

Reflections for piano and synthesized tape (1975) uses array structures. ⁽³⁾



My Ends Are My Beginnings for solo clarinet (1978). Babbitt was born in Philadelphia but raised in Jackson, MS. He started playing violin at age four but switched to clarinet and saxophone. He retained a lifelong love for popular song and jazz. We find works for clarinet throughout his catalog. Here is the first part of three. Parts II and III can be found here and here.



Images for saxophonist and synthesized tape (1979). In this work Babbitt used the all-trichord row. ⁽⁴⁾



In Melismata for solo violin (1982) fast and slow rhythms are mixed, with florid ornamentation around slow notes. ⁽⁵⁾



Sheer Pluck (composition for guitar) (1984).



Homily for snare drum (1987).

And why, is it asked, are there so many snares? That we may not fly low, but seek the things that are above. - St John Chrysostom ⁽⁵⁾

With this lofty quote Babbitt ends this score. "... it is simpler in effect, showing how contour, timbre, and pitch enliven Babbitt’s rhythm under normal conditions."⁽⁵⁾



Beaten Paths for solo marimba (1988) continues Babbitt's exploration of his innovative techniques to the sound of different solo instruments. Babbitt takes advantage of the marimba's unique timbral qualities creating a duo effect. ⁽⁵⁾



None but the Lonely Flute for solo flute (1991).

An ordinary quality of the flute gets extraordinarily free play (one reviewer wrote of “pure fluting”); it speaks easily, in exceptionally long, clear phrases, whose internal variety is voluble rather than dramatic. - Joseph Dubiel ⁽⁵⁾

Around the Horn for solo French horn (1993), Part I. Listen to Part II here.

The title’s pun predicts the piece’s conduct: the horn has to be almost everywhere in a two-and-ahalf- octave range almost all the time.⁽⁵⁾

Manifold Music for organ (1995).



Danci for solo guitar (1996).

Danci takes its title from the Esperanto word "To dance". In Danci, Babbitt sprays fragments of nearly recognizable dance rhythm and gesture against a canvas of continually shifting colors, dynamics, and registers. The exhilarating thing effect is a little like imagining a wild dance on a trampoline --The torso continually bounced in unexpected directions. -David Starobin ⁽⁶⁾

Composition for One Instrument for celesta (1999/2000).



Concerto Piccolino for solo vibraphone (1999).



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⁽¹⁾ Allan Kozinn, "Milton Babbitt, a Composer Who Gloried in Complexity, Dies at 94." Obituary, New York Times, 01/29/2011. (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/arts/music/30babbitt.html?_r=0 (03/05/2016))
⁽²⁾Roger Sessions, Babbitt's teacher and later Princeton colleague, Vladimir Ussachevsky and Otto Luening were among the others.
⁽³⁾ John Cuciurean, "Self-Similarity and Compositional Strategies in the Music of Milton Babbitt." Canadian University Music Review / Revue de musique des universités canadiennes, vol. 17, n° 2, 1997, pp. 7-10. (https://www.erudit.org/revue/cumr/1997/v17/n2/1014783ar.pdf (03/06/2016))
⁽⁴⁾ Don-Paul Kahl, "THE SAXOPHONE WORKS OF MILTON BABBITT – A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF COMPOSITIONAL TECHNIQUES, FORM, AND PERFORMANCE PRACTICE, AESTHETIC, AND RECEPTION." Abstract, donpaulkahl.com, research page. (http://www.donpaulkahl.com/Research.html (03/06/2016))
⁽⁵⁾ Joseph Dubiel, "Milton Babbitt (b. 1916), Soli e Duettini." CD review, 8.559259, Naxos website. (http://www.naxos.com/mainsite/blurbs_reviews.asp?item_code=8.559259&catNum=559259&filetype=About+this+Recording&language=English (03/06/2016))
⁽⁶⁾ David Starobin, "Babbitt Danci Starobin." Notes to YouTube video, 05/18/2014. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDUJGD6gHNI (03/06/2016))