Podcast appearances and mentions of Milton Babbitt

American composer

  • 33PODCASTS
  • 49EPISODES
  • 49mAVG DURATION
  • 1MONTHLY NEW EPISODE
  • May 15, 2025LATEST
Milton Babbitt

POPULARITY

20172018201920202021202220232024


Best podcasts about Milton Babbitt

Latest podcast episodes about Milton Babbitt

Crushing Classical
Ron Ramin and Portia Kamons: SEVENTEEN

Crushing Classical

Play Episode Listen Later May 15, 2025 35:01


Ron Ramin was born and raised in New York City. He earned his undergraduate degree at Princeton University, where he majored in music and studied privately with composer Milton Babbitt. Upon graduation, he moved to Los Angeles where he composed music for 20 Primetime television series and 30 movies/telefilms. Ron is the recipient of a CableACE Award, a Primetime EMMY nomination, and TV/Film Awards from BMI and ASCAP. In recent years he has shifted his focus to composing for the concert hall. This includes "Golden State of Mind," a symphonic suite depicting the beauty & drama of the California landscape and its cultural diversity. “Greetings!" was given its world premiere performance in 2016 by the Marin Symphony, conducted by Music Director Alasdair Neale. His latest work, SEVENTEEN, is a narrative work for orchestra and six on-stage Gen Z narrators. Days after the 2018 mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida, librettist Portia Kamons and Ron began to work on an artistic response to the relentless plague of gun violence in American schools and communities. Their attention soon focused on the rising generation of young people channeling their grief and anger into deliberate and effective action. They were bringing extraordinary commitment, determination, and energy to multiple challenges of their time. Ron & Portia were also determined to bring classical music audiences together with young people for an orchestral performance and thoughtful discussion. From the beginning they committed to employ verbatim text from the young Americans themselves. SEVENTEEN is their story, told in their own words. The Orlando Philharmonic commissioned it and gave the premiere performance Nov 8, 2024. Eric Jacobsen, their innovative music director, conducted the performance and Jamie Bernstein directed the six young on-stage narrators. The orchestra, to its credit, made this a free community event that included a thoughtful discussion and Q&A following the performance. A former Board member of the Society of Composers and Lyricists, Ron currently resides in Northern California and New York City.   Portia Kamons is a producer and librettist working with newly commissioned pieces in theatre, live events, music and feature film. With composer Ron Ramin, she is the co-creator and librettist for SEVENTEEN, a narrative work for Orchestra that received its world premiere by the Orlando Philharmonic on 8 November 2024. She was the Executive Producer for Virtua Creative on the US WW1 Centennial Commemoration narrated by Kevin Costner, as well as Exec Producer for "Visions of Peace" a special project for the WW1 Centennial with President Jimmy Carter. Portia was the lead producer of Tennyson Bardwell's feature film DORIAN BLUES which won 14 awards at festivals worldwide. She was a founding member and the first General Manager of Primary Stages Theatre in New York City, and a Producer for the NextWave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. For many years she worked for as a producer with En Garde Arts in New York City, and the London International Festival of Theatre in the UK where she lives. She is a regular consultant to Danish web-based documentary platform, OTHER STORY.     website: www.seventeeninamerica.com Instagram: @seventeen_in_america  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61561439852395 email: hello@seventeeninamerica.com Make sure you SUBSCRIBE to Crushing Classical, and maybe even leave a nice review!  Thanks for joining me on Crushing Classical!  Theme music by DreamVance. You can join my email list HERE, so you never miss an episode! I help people to lean into their creative careers and start or grow their income streams. You can read more or hop onto a short discovery call from my website.   I'm your host, Jennet Ingle. I love you all. Stay safe out there!  

Vrije geluiden op 4
Composers Festival

Vrije geluiden op 4

Play Episode Listen Later May 10, 2025 58:18


De eindexamenperiode van de conservatoria is aangebroken en dat betekent: aan de lopende band fantastische concerten, die veelal gratis te bezoeken zijn! Het Amsterdams Conservatorium organiseert voor de compositie-examens zelfs een jaarlijks festival: Composers Festival. Afstuderend componist Catharina Clement vertelt erover en we horen natuurlijk muziek van studenten! En als kers op de taart vieren we vanavond de geboortedag van Milton Babbitt met muziek van hemzelf en van zijn docent Roger Sessions. Gedraaid deze uitzending: - Milton Babbitt - Now Evening after Evening - Milton Babbit - Reflections for pin and synthesized tape - Anna-Mari Kahara - Kuka Nukkuu Tuutusassi - Kirsi-Marja Harju - Dream in a Dream - Catharina Clement - Tranen van Goud (opname van de concertzender) - Nuasyqa - Ferry Waves - Riger Sessions - Piano Sonata no. 1

The Holmes Archive of Electronic Music
Chapter 18, The Columbia– Princeton Electronic Music Center, New York

The Holmes Archive of Electronic Music

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 2, 2025 121:09


Episode 157 Chapter 18, The Columbia– Princeton Electronic Music Center, New York. Works Recommended from my book, Electronic and Experimental Music  Welcome to the Archive of Electronic Music. This is Thom Holmes. This podcast is produced as a companion to my book, Electronic and Experimental Music, published by Routledge. Each of these episodes corresponds to a chapter in the text and an associated list of recommended works, also called Listen in the text. They provide listening examples of vintage electronic works featured in the text. The works themselves can be enjoyed without the book and I hope that they stand as a chronological survey of important works in the history of electronic music. Be sure to tune-in to other episodes of the podcast where we explore a wide range of electronic music in many styles and genres, all drawn from my archive of vintage recordings. There is a complete playlist for this episode on the website for the podcast. Playlist: THE COLUMBIA–PRINCETON ELECTRONIC MUSIC CENTER, NEW YORK Time Track Time Start Introduction –Thom Holmes 01:31 00:00 1.     Vladimir Ussachevsky, “Sonic Contours” (1952). Tape composition produced at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. 07:24 01:36 2.     Otto Luening and Vladimir Ussachevsky, “Incantation For Tape” (1953). Tape composition produced at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. 02:36 08:56 3.     Vladimir Ussachevsky, “Linear Contrasts” (1958). Tape composition produced at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. 03:46 11:28 4.     Halim El Dabh, “Electronics And The Word” (1959). Tape composition produced at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. 02:47 15:14 5.     Mario Davidovsky, “Electronic Study No. 1” (1960). Tape composition produced at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. 05:44 17:56 6.     Otto Luening, “Gargoyles” (1960). Tape composition produced at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. 09:27 23:42 7.     Vladimir Ussachevsky, “Wireless Fantasy” (1960). Tape composition produced at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. 04:37 33:08 8.     Ihan Mimaroglu, “Prelude No. 8 (To the memory of Edgard Varèse)” (1966). Tape composition produced at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. 04:00 37:44 9.     Pril Smiley, “Eclipse” (1967). Tape composition produced at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. 07:56 41:38 10.   Milton Babbitt, “Occasional Variations” (1968-71).  Tape composition produced at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. 09:56 49:46 11.   Bülent Arel, “Stereo Electronic Music No. 2 (1970). Tape composition produced at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. 14:24 59:41 12.   Charles Dodge, “Changes” (1970). Tape composition produced at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. 14:44 01:14:00 13.   Alice Shields, “The Transformation Of Ani” (1970). Tape composition produced at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. 09:05 01:28:44 14.   Daria Semegen, “Electronic Composition No.1” (1971). Tape composition produced at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. 05:53 01:37:48 15.   Bülent Arel and Daria Semegen, “Out Of Into” (1972). Tape composition produced at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. 16:39 01:43:34 Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes. My Books/eBooks: Electronic and Experimental Music, sixth edition, Routledge 2020. Also, Sound Art: Concepts and Practices, first edition, Routledge 2022. See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation. For a transcript, please see my blog, Noise and Notations. Original music by Thom Holmes can be found on iTunes and Bandcamp.

The Holmes Archive of Electronic Music
Chapter 06, Analog and Digital Synthesis Basics, Part 1

The Holmes Archive of Electronic Music

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 16, 2025 126:01


Episode 144 Chapter 06, Analog and Digital Synthesis Basics, Part 1. Works Recommended from my book, Electronic and Experimental Music  Welcome to the Archive of Electronic Music. This is Thom Holmes. This podcast is produced as a companion to my book, Electronic and Experimental Music, published by Routledge. Each of these episodes corresponds to a chapter in the text and an associated list of recommended works, also called Listen in the text. They provide listening examples of vintage electronic works featured in the text. The works themselves can be enjoyed without the book and I hope that they stand as a chronological survey of important works in the history of electronic music. Be sure to tune-in to other episodes of the podcast where we explore a wide range of electronic music in many styles and genres, all drawn from my archive of vintage recordings. There is a complete playlist for this episode on the website for the podcast. Let's get started with the listening guide to Chapter 06, Analog and Digital Synthesis Basics, Part 1 from my book Electronic and Experimental music.   Playlist: Early Experiments and Synthesizers   Time Track Time Start Introduction –Thom Holmes 01:40 00:00 1 Halim El-Dabh, “The Expression of Zaar” (alt. title Wire Recorder Piece) (1944). Middle East Radio, Cairo. Composed using a magnetic wire recorder. 01:53 01:40 2 Hugh Le Caine, “Dripsody” (1955). Canada. Using Le Caine's special purpose tape recorder. 02:00 03:30 3 Josef Anton Riedl, “Folge von 4 Studien” (1959). Siemens Studio für Elektronische Musik. 02:35 05:30 4 Milton Babbitt, “Ensembles for Synthesizer” (1961– 63). Using RCA Mark II Electronic Music Synthesizer 10:41 08:06 5 Mauricio Kagel “Antithese” (1962). Siemens Studio für Elektronische Musik. 09:22 18:46 6 Konrad Boehmer, “Aspekt” (1966).  State University Electronic-Music Studio, Utrecht. 15:15 28:08 7 Pauline Oliveros, “I of IV” (1966). University of Toronto Electronic Music Studio. Using Hugh Le Caine's tape loop system. 25:29 43:34 8 Alice Shields, “Study for Voice and Tape” (1969). Columbia– Princeton Electronic Music Center. 05:14 01:08:52 9 Charles Wuorinen, Time's Encomium (1968– 69). Using RCA Mark II Electronic Music Synthesizer. 30:47  01:14:06 10 Douglas Leedy, “Entropical Paradise I” (1970). Side 1 of three-LP set. Six “sonic environments” using the Buchla Modular Electronic Music System and Moog Modular Synthesizer at UCLA. 20:09 01:44:55     Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes. My Books/eBooks: Electronic and Experimental Music, sixth edition, Routledge 2020. Also, Sound Art: Concepts and Practices, first edition, Routledge 2022. See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation. For a transcript, please see my blog, Noise and Notations. Original music by Thom Holmes can be found on iTunes and Bandcamp.  

Contemporánea
50. Serialismo

Contemporánea

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 26, 2024 20:01


Técnica de composición musical basada en el dodecafonismo de Arnold Schönberg. Mientras este aplica un principio serial a las alturas de las doce notas de la escala cromática, el serialismo amplía la aplicación de este fundamento a diferentes parámetros musicales como ritmo, intensidad y timbre._____Has escuchadoAll Set for Jazz Ensemble (1957) / Milton Babbitt. The Contemporary Chamber Ensemble; Arthur Weisberg, director. Nonesuch (1974)Gruppen: für drei Orchester. Werk Nr. 6 (1955-1957) / Karlheinz Stockhausen. Berliner Philharmoniker; Claudio Abbado, director. Deutsche Grammophon (1996)Scambi (1957) / Henri Pousseur. Sub Rosa (2002)Structures pour deux pianos. Livre II (1961) / Pierre Boulez. Pierre-Laurent Aimard y Florent Boffard, pianos. Deutsche Grammophon (1995)_____Selección bibliográficaBANDUR, Markus, Aesthetics of Total Serialism: Contemporary Research from Music to Architecture. Birkhauser Verlag, 2001BAZAYEV, Inessa y Christopher Segall (eds.), Analytical Approaches to 20th-Century Russian Music: Tonality, Modernism, Serialism. Routledge, 2020BENITEZ, Vincent, “Reconsidering Messiaen as Serialist”. Music Analysis, vol. 28, n.º 2-3 (2009), pp. 267-299*GALLOPE, Michael, “Why Was This Music Desirable? On a Critical Explanation of the Avant-Garde”. The Journal of Musicology, vol. 31, n.º 2 (2014), pp. 199-230*GRANT, M. J., Serial Music, Serial Aesthetics: Compositional Theory in Post-War Europe. Cambridge University Press, 2008GULDBRANDSEN, Erling E., “Pierre Boulez in Interview, 1996 (II). Serialism Revisited”. Tempo, vol. 65, n.º 256 (2011), pp. 18-24*IDDON, Martin, The Cambridge Companion to Serialism. Cambridge University Press, 2023MCCARTHY, John y Joe Peter, Harmonic Grammar and Harmonic Serialism. Equinox Publishing, 2016MOORE, Allan F., “Serialism and Its Contradictions”. International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, vol. 26, n.º 1 (1995), pp. 77-95*NEIDHÖFER, Christoph, “Inside Luciano Berio's Serialism”. Music Analysis, vol. 28, n.º 2-3 (2009), pp. 301-348*PERLE, George, Serial Composition and Atonality: An Introduction to the Music of Schoenberg, Berg and Webern. University of California Press, 1991RAO, Nancy Yunwha, “Hearing Pentatonicism Through Serialism: Integrating Different Traditions in Chinese Contemporary Music”. Perspectives of New Music, vol. 40, n.º 2 (2002), pp. 190-231*ROIG-FRANCOLÍ, Miguel A., Understanding Post-Tonal Music. Routledge, 2021SMALLEY, Roger, “Serialism for Today”. Tempo, n.º 90 (1969), pp. 2-7*SMITH BRINDLE, Reginald, Serial Composition. Oxford University Press, 1968VANDER WEG, John D., Serial Music and Serialism: A Research and Information Guide. Routledge, 2000WHITTALL, Arnold, Serialism. Cambridge University Press, 2008* *Documento disponible para su consulta en la Sala de Nuevas Músicas de la Biblioteca y Centro de Apoyo a la Investigación de la Fundación Juan March

Movie Meltdown
Attack of the 2023 Oscar Nominees!

Movie Meltdown

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 14, 2024 138:01


Attack of the Killer Soundtrack 68  Composer Erich Stem once again joins us as we play and discuss all the 2023 Oscar nominees for both Best Original Song and Best Original Score. And as we try to decide if we are really into serialism or total serialism, we also cover… the mandocello, the use of motives, electro punk, Tōru Takemitsu, chord progression, it disrupts the food industry, Threnody, sci-fi predictions, singing about battling oil and greed, Woman in the Dunes, whispering song voice, hard bop, real life events attaching themselves to songs, scat singer, Disney songs, connecting with the song, detuning, Juilliard trained, AI writing, compared to other songs of a similar style, a dry studios recording sound, free jazz, Milton Babbitt, use of instrumentation, Krzysztof Penderecki, ultra modern pop and a certain very successful song writer.  “...I think it makes it better for the movie industry.”

Sound of Cinema
Laura Karpman

Sound of Cinema

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 11, 2023 36:52


Laura Karpman is best known for her work composing the soundtracks for The Marvels, and the Disney+ series Ms Marvel and What If… She joins Matthew Sweet from her studio in LA overlooking the Pacific and talks about studying under Milton Babbitt and Nadia Boulanger, scoring for documentaries, attending the Last Night of the Proms and the influence of Benjamin Britten on her score for The Marvels.

Composers Datebook
Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge

Composers Datebook

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 4, 2023 2:00


SynopsisToday we honor one of America's greatest patrons of chamber music, Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, who died on this date in 1953.Born in 1864, Elizabeth was the daughter of a wealthy wholesale grocer. She put her inheritance to good use. In 1924, she proposed to the Library of Congress that an auditorium be constructed in Washington, D.C., that would be dedicated to the performance of chamber music. A year later it was built, and Coolidge Auditorium at the Library of Congress still stands today.Not content with just a superb venue for chamber music, Coolidge diligently commissioned new works to be played there. The list of important chamber pieces her foundation commissioned is impressive, and includes Bartok and Schoenberg string quartets, the original chamber versions of Copland's Appalachian Spring, Stravinsky's Apollo ballets, and modern works by American composers as diverse as Samuel Barber, Milton Babbitt, George Crumb and John Corigliano.Coolidge was an amateur composer and accomplished pianist. Her passion for music and enthusiasm for the creation of new works was all the more remarkable considering that tragically she battled deafness from her mid-30s.Music Played in Today's ProgramIgor Stravinsky (1882 – 1971) Apollo ballet; Stockholm Chamber Orchestra; Esa-Pekka Salonen, cond. Sony Classical 46667

The Holmes Archive of Electronic Music
Crosscurrents in Electronic Tape Music in the United States

The Holmes Archive of Electronic Music

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 19, 2023 161:48


Episode 99 Crosscurrents in Electronic Tape Music in the United States Playlist Louis and Bebe Barron, “Bells of Atlantis” (1952), soundtrack for a film by Ian Hugo based on the writings of his wife Anaïs Nin, who also appeared in the film. The Barrons were credited with “Electronic Music.” The Barrons scored three of Ian Hugo's short experimental films and this is the earliest, marking an early start for tape music in the United States. Bebe told me some years ago about a work called “Heavenly Menagerie” that they produced in 1950. I have written before that I think this work was most likely the first electronic music made for magnetic tape in the United States, although I have never been able to find a recording of the work. Bells of Atlantis will stand as an example of what they could produce in their Greenwich Village studio at the time. They were also engaged helping John Cage produce “Williams Mix” at the time, being recordists of outdoor sounds around New York that Cage would use during the process of editing the composition, which is described below. The Forbidden Planet soundtrack, their most famous work, was created in 1956. 8:59 John Cage, “Williams Mix” (1952) from The 25-Year Retrospective Concert Of The Music Of John Cage (1959 Avakian). Composed in 1952, the tape was played at this Town Hall concert a few years later. Premiered in Urbana, Ill., March 22, 1953. From the Cage database of compositions: “This is a work for eight tracks of 1/4” magnetic tape. The score is a pattern for the cutting and splicing of sounds recorded on tape. Its rhythmic structure is 5-6-16-3-11-5. Sounds fall into 6 categories: A (city sounds), B (country sounds), C (electronic sounds), D (manually produced sounds), E (wind produced sounds), and F ("small" sounds, requiring amplification). Pitch, timbre, and loudness are notated as well. Approximately 600 recordings are necessary to make a version of this piece. The compositional means were I Ching chance operations. Cage made a realization of the work in 1952/53 (starting in May 1952) with the assistance of Earle Brown, Louis and Bebe Barron, David Tudor, Ben Johnston, and others, but it also possible to create other versions.” This was a kind of landmark work for John as he explored the possibilities of working with the tape medium. It is the only work from this period, created in the United States, for which there is an original recording of a Cage realization. He also composed “Imaginary Landscape No. 5” in 1952 for 42-disc recordings as a collage of fragments from long-playing records recorded on tape (he preferred to use jazz records as the source), put together with the assistance of David Tudor. Though some modern interpretations exist, there is no recording from the 1950s of a Cage/Tudor realization so I am unable to represent what it would have been like at that time. 5:42 Otto Luening and Vladimir Ussachevsky, “Moonflight” (1952) from Tape Music An Historic Concert (1968 Desto). This record documents tape pieces played at perhaps the earliest concert of American tape music at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, October 28, 1952. Realized at the composer's Tape Music Center at Columbia University, the precursor of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. 2:54 Otto Luening, “Fantasy in Space” (1952) from Tape Music An Historic Concert (1968 Desto). Realized at the composer's Tape Music Center at Columbia University, the precursor of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. 2:51 Otto Luening and Vladimir Ussachevsky, “Incantation” (1953) from Tape Music An Historic Concert (1968 Desto). This record documents tape pieces played at perhaps the earliest concert of American tape music at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, October 28, 1952. Realized at the composer's Tape Music Center at Columbia University, the precursor of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. 2:34 Henry Jacobs, “Sonata for Loudspeakers” (1953-54) from Sounds of New Music (1958 Folkways). “Experiments with synthetic rhythm” produced by Henry Jacobs who worked at radio station KPFA-FM in Berkeley. Jacobs narrates the track to explain his use of tape loops and recorded sound. 9:29 Jim Fassett, track “B2” (Untitled) from Strange To Your Ears - The Fabulous World of Sound With Jim Fassett (1955 Columbia Masterworks). “The fabulous world of sound,” narrated with tape effects, by Jim Fassett. Fassett, a CBS Radio musical director, was fascinated with the possibilities of tape composition. With this recording, done during the formative years of tape music in the middle 1950s, he took a somewhat less daring approach than his experimental counterparts, but a bold step nonetheless for a national radio audience. He hosted a weekend program called Strange to Your Ears to showcase these experiments and this album collected some of his best bits. 8:15 Harry F. Olsen, “The Well-Tempered Clavier: Fugue No. 2” (Bach) and “Nola” (Arndt) and “Home, Sweet Home” from The Sounds and Music of the RCA Electronic Music Synthesizer (1955 RCA). These “experimental” tracks were intended to demonstrate the range of sound that could be created with RCA Music Synthesizer. This was the Mark I model, equipped with a disc lathe instead of a tape recorder. When it was upgraded and called the Mark II in the late 1950s, it became the showpiece of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. Here we listen to three tunes created by Harry F. Olsen, one of the inventors, in the style of a harpsichord, a piano, and “an engineer's conception of the music.” 5:26 Milton Babbitt, “Composition For Synthesizer” (1960-61) (1968 Columbia). Babbitt was one of the only composers at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center who composed and produced works based solely on using the RCA Music Synthesizer. Most others took advantage of other tape processing techniques found in the studio and not controlled by the RCA Mark II. It took him quite a long time to work out all of the details using the synthesizer and his meticulous rules for composing serially. On the other hand, the programmability of the instrument made it much more possible to control all the parameters of the sound being created electronically rather than by human musicians. This work is a prime example of this kind of work. 10:41 Tod Dockstader, “Drone” (1962) from Drone; Two Fragments From Apocalypse; Water Music (1966 Owl Records). Self-produced album by independent American composer Dockstader. This came along at an interesting period for American elecgtronic music, sandwiched between the institutional studio work being done at various universities and the era of the independent musician working with a synthesizer. Dockstader used his own studio and his own devices to make this imaginative music. This was one of a series of four albums featuring Dockstader's music that were released on Owl in the 1966-67 timeframe. They have all been reissued in one form or another. Here is what Dockstader himself wrote about this piece: “Drone, like many of my other works, began life as a single sound; in this case, the sound of racing cars. But, unlike the others, the germinal sound is no longer in the piece. It's been replaced by another a guitar. I found in composing the work that the cars didn't go anywhere, except, seemingly, in circles. The sound of them that had interested me originally was a high to low glissando the Doppler effect. In making equivalents of this sound, I found guitar glissandos could be bent into figures the cars couldn't. . . . After the guitar had established itself as the base line of the piece, I began matching its sound with a muted sawtooth oscillator (again, concrete and electronic music: the guitar being a mechanical source of sound, the oscillator an electronic source). This instrument had a timbre similar to the guitar, with the addition of soft attack, sustained tones, and frequencies beyond the range of the guitar. . . . The effect of the guitar and the oscillator, working together, was to produce a kind of drone, with variations something like the procedure of classical Japanese music, but with more violence. Alternating violence with loneliness, hectic motion with static stillness, was the aim of the original piece; and this is still in Drone, but in the process, the means changed so much that, of all my pieces, it is the only one I can't remember all the sounds of, so it continues to surprise me when I play it.” (From the original liner notes by Dockstader). 13:24 Wendy Carlos, “Dialogs for Piano and Two Loudspeakers” (1963) from Electronic Music (1965 Turnabout). This is an early recording of Wendy, pre-Switched-on Bach, from her days as a composer and technician. In this work, Carlos tackles the task of combining synthesized sounds with those of acoustic instruments, in this case the piano. It's funny that after you listen to this you could swear that there were instruments other than the piano used, so deft was her blending of electronic sounds with even just a single instrument. 4:00 Gordon Mumma, “Music from the Venezia Space Theater” (1963-64) (1966 Advance). Mono recording from the original release on Advance. Composed at the Cooperative Studio for Electronic Music in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This was the studio created by Mumma and fellow composer Robert Ashley to produce their electronic tape works for Milton Cohen's Space Theater on Ann Arbor, which this piece tries to reproduce. The original was a quad magnetic tape. It was premiered at the 27th Venezia Bianale, Venice, Italy on September 11, 1964 and comprised the ONCE group with dancers. 11:58 Jean Eichelberger Ivey, “Pinball” (1965) from Electronic Music (1967 Folkways). Realized at the Electronic Music Studio of Brandeis University. This work was produced in the Brandeis University Electronic Music Studio and was her first work of electroacoustic music. In 1964 she began a Doctor of Musical Arts program in composition, including studies in electronic music, at the University of Toronto and completed the degree in 1972. Ivey founded the Peabody Electronic Music Studio in 1967 and taught composition and electronic music at the Peabody Conservatory of Music until her retirement in 1997. Ivey was a respected composer who also sought more recognition for women in the field. In 1968, she was the only woman composer represented at the Eastman-Rochester American Music Festival. Her work in electronic music and other music was characteristic of her general attitude about modern composing, “I consider all the musical resources of the past and present as being at the composer's disposal, but always in the service of the effective communication of humanistic ideas and intuitive emotion.” 6:12 Pauline Oliveros, “Bye Bye Butterfly” (1965) from New Music for Electronic and Recorded Media (1977 1750 Arch Records). This was composed at the San Francisco Tape Music Center where so many west coast composers first found their footing: Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Jon Gibson, Pauline Oliveros, Stuart Dempster, Morton Subotnick, Ramon Sender all did work there around this time. Oliveros was experimenting with the use of tape delay in a number of works, of which “Bye Bye Butterfly” is a great example. 8:05 Gordon Mumma, “The Dresden Interleaf 13 February 1945” (1965) from Dresden / Venezia / Megaton (1979 Lovely Music). Composed at the Cooperative Studio for Electronic Music (Ann Arbor, Michigan). Remixed at The Center for Contemporary Music, Mills College (Oakland, California). This tape piece was premiered at the sixth annual ONCE Festival in Ann Arbor where Mumma configured an array of sixteen “mini speakers” to surround the audience and project the 4-channel mix. The middle section of the piece contains the “harrowing roar of live, alcohol-burning model airplane engines.” (Mumma) This anti-war piece was presented in the 20th anniversary of the Allied fire-bombing of Dresden near the end of World War II. 12:14 Kenneth Gaburo, “Lemon Drops (Tape Alone)” (1965) from Electronic Music from the University of Illinois (1967 Heliodor). From Gaburo: “Lemon Drops” is one of a group of five tape compositions made during 1964-5 referencing the work of Harry Partch. All are concerned with aspects of timbre (e.g., mixing concrete and electronically generated sound); with nuance (e.g., extending the expressive range of concrete sound through machine manipulation, and reducing machine rigidity through flexible compositional techniques); and with counterpoint (e.g., stereo as a contrapuntal system).”(see). 2:52 Steve Reich, “Melodica” (1966) from Music From Mills (1986 Mills College). This is one of Reich's lesser-known phased loop compositions from the 1960s. It is “composed of one tape loop gradually going out of phase with itself, first in two voices and then in four.” This was Reich's last work for tape before he transitioned to writing instrumental music. 10:43 Pril Smiley, “Eclipse” (1967) from Electronic Music, Vol. IV (1969 Turnabout). The selections are works by the winners of the First International Electronic Music Competition - Dartmouth College, April 5, 1968. The competition was judged by composers Milton Babbitt, Vladimir Ussachevsky, and George Balch Wilson. The winner was awarded a $500 prize. Pril Smiley was 1st finalist and realized “Eclipse” at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. Smiley had this to say about the work: “Eclipse” was originally composed for four separate tracks, the composer having worked with a specifically-structured antiphonal distribution of compositional material to be heard from four corners of a room or other appropriate space. Some sections of “Eclipse” are semi-improvisatory; by and large, the piece was worked out via many sketches and preliminary experiments on tape: all elements such as rhythm, timbre, loudness, and duration of each note were very precisely determined and controlled. In many ways, the structure of “Eclipse” is related to the composer's use of timbre. There are basically two kinds of sounds in the piece: the low, sustained gong-like sounds (always either increasing or decreasing in loudness) and the short more percussive sounds, which can be thought of as metallic, glassy, or wooden in character. These different kinds of timbres are usually used in contrast to one another, sometimes being set end to end so that one kind of sound interrupts another, and sometimes being dovetailed so that one timbre appears to emerge out of or from beneath another. Eighty-five percent of the sounds are electronic in origin; the non-electronic sounds are mainly pre-recorded percussion sounds–but subsequently electronically modified so that they are not always recognizable.” (From the original liner notes by Smiley.) 7:56 Olly W. Wilson, “Cetus” (1967) from Electronic Music, Vol. IV (1969 Turnabout). The selections are works by the winners of the First International Electronic Music Competition - Dartmouth College, April 5, 1968. The competition was judged by composers Milton Babbitt, Vladimir Ussachevsky, and George Balch Wilson. The winner was awarded a $500 prize. Olly W. Wilson was the competition Winner with “Cetus.” It was realized in the studio for Experimental Music of the University of Illinois. Olly Wilson wrote about the work: “the compositional process characteristic of the “classical tape studio” (the mutation of a few basic electronic signals by means of filters, signal modifiers, and recording processes) was employed in the realization of this work and was enhanced by means of certain instruments which permit improvisation by synthesized sound. Cetus contains passages which were improvised by the composer as well as sections realized by classical tape studio procedures. The master of this work was prepared on a two channel tape. Under the ideal circumstances it should be performed with multiple speakers surrounding the auditor.” (Olly Wilson. The Avant Garde Project at UBUWEB, AGP129 – US Electronic Music VIII | Dartmouth College Competition (1968-70). 9:18 Alice Shields, “The Transformation of Ani” (1970) from Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center Tenth Anniversary Celebration (1971 CRI). Composed at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. Alice Shields explained, “The text of “The Transformation of Ani” is taken from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, as translated into English by E. A. Budge. Most sounds in the piece were made from my own voice, speaking and singing the words of the text. Each letter of the English translation was assigned a pitch, and each hieroglyph of the Egyptian was given a particular sound or short phrase, of mostly indefinite pitch. Each series, the one derived from the English translation, and the one derived from the original hieroglyphs, was then improvised upon to create material I thought appropriate to the way in which I wanted to develop the meaning of the text, which I divided into three sections.” (see). 8:59 Opening background music: John Cage, Fontana Mix (1958) (1966 Turnabout). This tape work was composed in 1958 and I believe this is the only recorded version by Cage himself as well as the only Cage version presented as a work not in accompaniment of another work. An earlier recording, from the Time label in 1962, feature the tape piece combined with another Cage work, “Aria.” This version for 2 tapes was prepared b Cage in February 1959 at the Studio di Fonologia in Milan, with technical assistance from Mario Zuccheri. From the Cage Database website. “This is a composition indeterminate of its performance, and was derived from notation CC from Cage's Concert for Piano and Orchestra. The score consists of 10 sheets of paper and 12 transparencies. The sheets of paper contain drawings of 6 differentiated (as to thickness and texture) curved lines. 10 of these transparencies have randomly distributed points (the number of points on the transparencies being 7, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 22, 26, 29, and 30). Another transparency has a grid, measuring 2 x 10 inches, and the last one contains a straight line (10 3/4 inch). By superimposing these transparencies, the player creates a structure from which a performance score can be made: one of the transparencies with dots is placed over one of the sheets with curved lines. Over this one places the grid. A point enclosed in the grid is connected with a point outside, using the straight line transparency. Horizontal and vertical measurements of intersections of the straight line with the grid and the curved line create a time-bracket along with actions to be made.” Opening and closing sequences voiced by Anne Benkovitz. Additional opening, closing, and other incidental music by Thom Holmes. See my companion blog that I write for the Bob Moog Foundation. For additional notes, please see my blog, Noise and Notations.

Un Día Como Hoy
Un Día Como Hoy 10 de Mayo

Un Día Como Hoy

Play Episode Listen Later May 10, 2023 5:26


Un día como hoy, 10 de mayo: Acontece: 1508: en Roma, Miguel Ángel inicia la pintura de los frescos de la Capilla Sixtina. Nace: 1604: Jean Mairet, escritor y dramaturgo francés (f. 1686). 1697: Jean-Marie Leclair, violinista y compositor francés (f. 1764). 1843: Benito Pérez Galdós, escritor y dramaturgo español (f. 1920). 1888: Max Steiner, compositor de música para cine, director de orquesta y pianista austriaco (f. 1971). 1899: Fred Astaire, cantante, actor y bailarín estadounidense (f. 1987). 1916: Milton Babbitt, compositor y educador estadounidense (f. 2011). 1970: Gabriela Montero, pianista venezolana. Fallece: 1849: Hokusai, pintor e ilustrador japonés (n. 1760). Conducido por Joel Almaguer. Una producción de Sala Prisma Podcast. 2023

The Worst of All Possible Worlds
79 - Sunday in the Park with George

The Worst of All Possible Worlds

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 22, 2023 22:58


THIS IS A PREVIEW. FOR THE FULL EPISODE, GO TO  Patreon.com/worstofall The lads finally finish the hat as they cover James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim's beautiful, pointillist musical: Sunday in the Park With George. Topics include the complexity of the score, the controversial second act, and the challenge of bringing order to the whole through design, composition, balance, light, and harmony. Want more TWOAPW? Get access to the rest of this episode, our full back catalogue of premium and bonus episodes, and add your name to the masthead of our website by subscribing for $5/month at Patreon.com/worstofall! Media Referenced in this Episode: Sunday in the Park with George by James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim. “Eight Lines (Octet)” by Steve Reich. 1979. Look, I Made a Hat: Collected Lyrics (1981-2011) with Attendant Comments, Amplifications, Dogmas, Harangues, Digressions, Anecdotes and Miscellany by Stephen Sondheim. Penguin Random House. 2011. “Partitions” by Milton Babbitt, 1957. Putting it Together: How Stephen Sondheim and I Created "Sunday in the Park with George" by James Lapine. macmillan Publishing. 2021. Reich and Sondheim: In Conversation and Performance. Interview with Frank Rich. Lincoln Center, 2016. Sondheim on Music: Minor Details and Major Decisions by Mark Eden Horowitz. Scarecrow Press, 2010. Also available on Youtube. “UK Omnibus: Sunday in the Park with Stephen.” 1990. “Putting It Together” Variations Barbara Streisand's Version The Academy Awards Version The Xerox Commercial Version The Ethan Allen Version TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com

Music In Mind
Music In Mind #58 - Reading Series: The String Quartets of Bartok by Milton Babbitt

Music In Mind

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 26, 2023 39:54


This episode is the first in my new reading series. The article from this episode is "The String Quartets of Bartok" (1949), written by Milton Babbitt and taken from the book The Collected Essays of Milton Babbitt. Recorded musical examples taken from the Takas Quartet recordings of the 6 Bartok string quartets. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI-fZJC9BtM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJLb7-m-pAY&t=25s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2zPA4RuzaM&t=1s Other musical examples are recorded and performed by myself. To support my content and get access to bonus videos/music, sign up on my Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/anthonycaulkinsmusic Check out my band, Sap & Claw Elixir's First Tap EP: https://open.spotify.com/album/27B1sqXJfEQ01z07rHC0H8?si=bFGEWOjwQ8aqSGGq9H-C8A Anthony's Links: Website - http://www.anthonycaulkins.com Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/anthonycaulkinsmusic Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/artist/2zZw7ctpzHdIye5atlY8T2 Odysee (Music In Mind) - https://odysee.com/@MusicInMind:f Odysee (Anthony Caulkins) - https://odysee.com/@AnthonyCaulkins:a YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8ZV0fhfBfc2Ehzp-5kQzww Twitter - https://twitter.com/Anthony_C_Music Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/anthony.caulkins/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/anthonycaulkinsmusic Bandcamp - https://anthonycaulkins.bandcamp.com/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/music-in-mind/message

Composers Datebook
A second wind for Reicha and Ward-Steinman?

Composers Datebook

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 4, 2022 2:00 Very Popular


Synopsis Take one flute, one oboe, and mix well with one each of a clarinet, bassoon and French horn —and you have the recipe for the traditional wind quintet. In the 19th century, this tasty musical mix was perfected by Europeans like the Czech composer Anton Reicha, who produced 24 wind quintets in his lifetime. In the 20th century, American composers like Samuel Barber, Elliott Carter, and John Harbison have all written one wind quintet each—matching Reicha's in quality, if not in quantity. But other American composers HAVE returned to the wind quintet for a second helping. On today's date in 1993, the Wind Quintet No. 2 of the Californian composer David Ward-Steinman received its premiere in Sacramento by the Arioso Quintet. Ward-Steinman titled his second quintet Night Winds, and asked his five players to occasionally double on some non-traditional instruments such as bamboo or clay flutes, a train-whistle, and even the traditional wind instrument of Indigenous Australians, the didgeridoo—all to create some atmospheric “night-wind” sounds. In addition to wind quintets, David Ward-Steinman composed orchestral works, chamber music and pieces for solo piano. A native of Louisiana, Ward-Steinman studied with Darius Milhaud in Aspen, Milton Babbitt at Tanglewood, and Nadia Boulanger in Paris. Music Played in Today's Program Antonin Reicha (1770-1836) Wind Quintet No. 23 in a No. 23, Op. 100 Albert Schweitzer Quintet CPO 999027 David Ward-Steinman (1936-2015) Woodwind Quintet No. 2 (Night Winds) Arioso Quintet Fleur de Son Classics 57935

MFM SPEAKS OUT
EP 43: Hubert Howe on Finding Your Own Voice

MFM SPEAKS OUT

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 28, 2022 99:33


"You have to take yourself seriously and find your own voice."Our guest for this episode of MFM Speaks Out is Hubert Howe. Hubert Howe grew up in Los Angeles, California, where he began his musical studies as an oboist. He was educated at Princeton University, studied with J.K. Randall, Godfrey Winham, and Milton Babbitt, and received the A.B., M.F.A. and Ph.D.. He was one of the first researchers in computer music, and became Professor of Music and Director of the Electronic Music studios at Queens College in New York, where he was also Director of the Aaron Copland School of Music from 1989 to 1998, 2001 to 2002, and Autumn 2007. He taught at the Juilliard School from 1974 through 1994. In 1988-89 he held the Endowed Chair in Music at the University of Alabama.He has been a member of the Society of Composers, Inc. since its founding in 1965 and served on the Executive Committee from 1967 to 1971. He served as President of the US section of the League of Composers / International Society of Contemporary Music from 1970 until 1979. In 1980, he received a commission from the CSC at the University of Padua, Italy, for his composition Astrazioni (Abstractions), which was presented at the Biennale of Venice.He is a member of the International Computer Music Association, and directed the International Computer Music Conference at Queens College in 1980. In 1994, he was the composer-in-residence at the Third Annual Florida Electroacoustic Music Festival at the University of Florida in Gainesville. He is also a member of Society for Electro-Acoustic Music, a member of BMI, and the American Composers Alliance since 1974 and served as their President from 2002 to 2011. He is a member of the New York Composer's Circle and has served as Executive Director since 2013. In 2009, he founded the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, and he continues as Director. He is also a member of the Association for the Promotion of New Music (APNM).Recordings of his computer music have been released by Capstone Records, Ravello Records, and ABLAZE Records.Topics discussed:The topics discussed include studying composition at Princeton under people like Milton Babbitt and J.K. Randall, his opinions of Karlheinz Stockhausen, becoming a Professor of Music and Director of the Electronic Music studios at Queens College in New York and Julliard, his involvement with the New York Composer's Circle, how electronic music was and is accepted in the classical music world, his thoughts about the influence of electronics on American popular music, such as Progressive Rock, Hip Hop, EDM, and composers and improvisers like Frank Zappa, Brian Eno, or Miles Davis, how he approaches and draws inspiration composing for electronics as opposed to acoustic instruments, his thoughts on the unprecedented factor of Artificial Intelligence and its application as a compositional tool, how the domination of streaming the economics of a career as a professional music composer changed over the years, how recent changes in the sales and marketing structure of recorded music, coupled with the domination of streaming services affected composers of orchestral, chamber, and electronic music, thoughts of Modern Classical Music's relevance, and music in general, in contemporary American life, and in the near future, and his advice to aspiring composers. Music featured in this episode:Nocturne, Dance and Dream (a live performance featuring Craig Ketter on piano)Inharmonic Fantasy No. 7Harmonic Fantasy No. 5(All compositions by Hubert Howe. Used with permission)

Composers Datebook
Brahms and Rzewski for amateurs

Composers Datebook

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 6, 2022 2:00 Very Popular


Synopsis The first performance of the “Liebeslieder” – or the “Love Song” Waltzes – for piano four-hands by Johannes Brahms took place on today's date in 1869. The performers were two distinguished soloists: Clara Schumann, widow of composer Robert Schumann, and Hermann Levi, a famous conductor of his day. But in fact, the “Liebeslieder Waltzes” were intended for amateur musicians to play. These popular scores provided Brahms with some steady income, certainly more than he earned from performances of his symphonies, which some of his contemporaries considered difficult “new” music. Brahms wrote to his publisher: “I must admit that, for the first time, I grinned at the sight of a work of mine in print. Moreover, I gladly risk being called an ass if our ‘Liebeslieder' don't give more than a few people pleasure.” Some much more recent piano music designed for amateur performers was collected into a volume titled “Carnegie Hall Millennium Piano Book.” This volume was conceived by composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and the artistic director of Carnegie Hall, Judith Arron. They were concerned about the lack of contemporary piano works that intermediate-level piano students could perform, so commissioned ten composers to write suitable piano pieces from composers ranging from Milton Babbitt and Elliott Carte to Chen Yi and Tan Dun. Music Played in Today's Program Johannes Brahms (1833-1897): Liebeslieder Waltz No. 18, Op.52a –Silke-Thora Matthies and Christian Köhn, piano (Naxos 553140) Frederic Rzewski (1938-2021): The Days Fly By –Ursula Oppens, piano (Companion CD to Boosey and Hawkes "The Carnegie Hall Millennium Piano Book" ASIN: B003AG8IUK)

COMPLEXITY
Dmitri Tymoczko on The Shape of Music: Mathematical Order in Western Tonality

COMPLEXITY

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 18, 2022 85:16 Very Popular


Math and music share their mystery and magic. Three notes, played together, make a chord whose properties could not be predicted from those of the separate notes. In the West, music theory and mathematics have common origins and a rich history of shaping and informing one another's field of inquiry. And, curiously, Western composition has evolved over several hundred years in much the same way economies and agents in long-running simulations have: becoming measurably more complex; encoding more and more environmental structure. (But then, sometimes collapses happen, and everything gets simpler.) Music theorists, like the alchemists that came before them, are engaged in a centuries-long project of deciphering the invisible geometry of these relationships. What is the hidden grammar that connects The Beatles to Johann Sebastian Bach — and how similar is it to the hidden order disclosed by complex systems science? In other words, what makes for “good” music, and what does it have to do with the coherence of the natural world?Welcome to COMPLEXITY, the official podcast of the Santa Fe Institute. I'm your host, Michael Garfield, and every other week we'll bring you with us for far-ranging conversations with our worldwide network of rigorous researchers developing new frameworks to explain the deepest mysteries of the universe.This week on the show, we speak with mathematician and composer Dmitri Tymozcko at Princeton University, whose work provides a new rigor to the study of the Western canon and illuminates “the shape of music” — a hyperspatial object from which all works of baroque, classical, romantic, modern, jazz, and pop are all low-dimensional projections. In the first conversation for this podcast with MIDI keyboard accompaniment, we follow upon Gottfried Leibniz's assertion that music is “the unconscious exercise of our mathematical powers.” We explore how melodies and harmonies move through mathematical space in ways quite like the metamorphoses of living systems as they traverse evolutionary fitness landscapes. We examine the application of information theory to chord categorization and functional harmony. And we ask about the nature of randomness, the roles of parsimony and consilience in both art and life.If you value our research and communication efforts, please subscribe, rate and review us at Apple Podcasts, and consider making a donation — or finding other ways to engage with us — at santafe.edu/engage. You can find the complete show notes for every episode, with transcripts and links to cited works, at complexity.simplecast.com.Thank you for listening!Join our Facebook discussion group to meet like minds and talk about each episode.Podcast theme music by Mitch Mignano.Follow us on social media:Twitter • YouTube • Facebook • Instagram • LinkedInMentions and additional resources:All of Tymoczko's writings mentioned in this conversation can be found on his Princeton.edu websiteYou can explore his interactive music software at MadMusicalScience.comThe Geometry of Musical Chordsby Dmitri TymoczkoAn Information Theoretic Approach to Chord Categorization and Functional Harmonyby Nori Jacoby, Naftali Tishby and Dmitri TymoczkoThis Mathematical Song of the Emotionsby Dmitri TymoczkoThe Sound of Philosophyby Dmitri TymoczkoSelect Tymoczko Video Lectures:Spacious Spatiality (SEMF) 2022The Quadruple HierarchyThe Shape of Music (2014)On the 2020 SFI Music & Complexity Working Group (with a link to the entire video playlist of public presentations).On the 2022 SFI Music & Complexity Working GroupFoundations and Applications of Humanities Analytics Institute at SFIShort explainer animation on SFI Professor Sidney Redner's work on “Sleeping Beauties of Science”The evolution of syntactic communicationby Martin Nowak, Joshua Plotkin, Vincent JansenThe Majesty of Music and Math (PBS special with SFI's Cris Moore)The physical limits of communicationby Michael Lachmann, Mark Newman, Cristopher MooreSupertheories and Consilience from Alchemy to ElectromagnetismSFI Seminar by Simon DeDeoWill brains or algorithms rule the kingdom of science?by David Krakauer at Aeon MagazineScaling, Mirror Symmetries and Musical Consonances Among the Distances of the Planets of the Solar Systemby Michael Bank and Nicola Scafetta“The reward system for people who do a really wonderful job of extracting knowledge and understanding and wisdom…is skewed in the wrong way. If left to the so-called free market, it's mainly skewed toward entertainment or something that's narrowly utilitarian for some business firm or set of business firms.”– Murray Gell-Mann, A Crude Look at The Whole Part 180/200 (1997)Related Episodes:Complexity 81 - C. Brandon Ogbunu on Epistasis & The Primacy of Context in Complex SystemsComplexity 72 - Simon DeDeo on Good Explanations & Diseases of EpistemologyComplexity 70 - Lauren F. Klein on Data Feminism: Surfacing Invisible LaborComplexity 67 - Tyler Marghetis on Breakdowns & Breakthroughs: Critical Transitions in Jazz & MathematicsComplexity 46 - Helena Miton on Cultural Evolution in Music and Writing SystemsComplexity 29 - On Coronavirus, Crisis, and Creative Opportunity with David Krakauer

Composers & Computers
Episode 1: Serial(ism)

Composers & Computers

Play Episode Listen Later May 5, 2022 35:48


This episode is the story of what happened when a Princeton composer, who was inspired to create some of the most challenging music ever written, decided it could be most reliably performed by a machine. His work to realize that machine led to the birth of the electronic synthesizer as a device upon which one could compose music. And it led, indirectly, to the digital music revolution. The device wasn’t a computer – it was an early analog synthesizer in Manhattan, co-owned by Princeton and Columbia. This episode will take you inside Milton Babbitt’s work with his “robot orchestra.” You’ll get to hear the music it made, and how Babbitt and the engineers who built it carved out a path that would lead to digital music as know it today.

Countermelody
Episode 120. Bethany Beardslee

Countermelody

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 17, 2021 102:51


Today's episode celebrates a pioneer in the performance of twentieth century vocal music in anticipation of her 96th birthday on Christmas Day. Bethany Beardslee was a titan who set standards in the performance of the music of Arnold Schoenberg and Milton Babbitt in particular, but who also acted as muse to a host of mid-twentieth century avant garde composers whose work she premiered and often recorded. But she was also a member of the pioneering early music ensemble New York Pro Musica in the late 1950s and was an innovator in programming daring and diverse recital repertoire which combined Lieder and melodies with the contemporary music for which she was best known. This episode samples her recordings over the course of more than thirty years, and includes composers such as John Dowland, Robert Schumann, Claude Debussy, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, and Johannes Brahms alongside such twentieth century giants as Anton Webern, Ernst Krenek, Igor Stravinsky, Ben Weber, Mel Powell, Robert Helps, Fred Lerdahl, and Godfrey Winham, her second husband. Throughout the course of a career devoted to, to paraphrase the title of her autobiography, “singing the unsingable,” Bethany Beardslee combined rock solid-technique and silvery tone with peerless musicianship and interpretive acuity to set standards that have yet to be surpassed. Please join me in celebrating this great artist. Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel's lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody's core is the celebration of great singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. By clicking on the following link (https://linktr.ee/CountermelodyPodcast) you can find the dedicated Countermelody website which contains additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. The link will also take you to Countermelody's Patreon page, where you can pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available exclusively to Patreon supporters are currently available and further bonus content including interviews and livestreams is planned for the upcoming season.

Modus
Modus. Apskaičiuotas jaudulys: Milton Babbitt

Modus

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 4, 2021 59:55


Vienas iš kompiuterinės muzikos tėvų, amerikietis Milton Babbitt (1916-2011) yra parašęs įvairaus žanro, ne tik elektroninių kūrinių. Babbittas nelyg matematikas ir garso konstrukcijų inžinierius, jis tikras savo laiko kūdikis, tikintis mokslo ir meno sinteze. Jo idėjos sudėtingos ir įkandamos ne kiekvienam, tačiau nestinga optimistų, manančių, kad būtent Babbitto pasiūlytieji dalykai ir yra tikrasis kelias į ateities muziką.Laidos autoriai Šarūnas Nakas ir Mindaugas Urbaitis

modus vienas laidos milton babbitt
Composers Datebook
David Ward-Steinman's Cinnabar

Composers Datebook

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 15, 2021 2:00


Synopsis “Listening to inner voices” is a phrase that can mean a lot of things. For musicians who play the viola, PROVIDING those inner voices, musically speaking, is their daily bread and butter. In the modern orchestra, the viola provides the alto voice in the string choir, filling in harmonies and musical lines between the violins on top, and the cellos and double basses on the bottom. But (unfortunately) occasionally violists like to step forward, front and center, as soloists. And some composers have shown a special fondness for the viola's distinctive dusky color. According to the American composer David Ward-Steinman that color might well be likened to cinnabar, the ore of mercury, a crystallized reddish-brown mineral with flashes of quicksilver.  Asked to write a solo for the 19th Annual Viola Congress held at Ithaca, New York, Ward-Steinman's “Cinnabar” for solo viola and piano premiered on today's date in 1991.  David Ward-Steinman served as Composer-in-Residence at San Diego State University for many years. His own teachers included Wallingford Riegger, Darius Milhaud, Milton Babbitt, and Nadia Boulanger. Ward-Steinman's catalog of original works ranges from solo pieces and chamber works like “Cinnabar,” to large-scale theatrical scores and ballets. Music Played in Today's Program David Ward-Steinman (b. 1936): Cinnabar (Karen Elaine, viola; David Ward-Steinman, piano) Fleur de Son 57935

Sound Expertise
Cold War Money and New Music with Eduardo Herrera and Michael Uy

Sound Expertise

Play Episode Play 48 sec Highlight Listen Later Jun 15, 2021 60:37


How did Cold War money shape the musical avant-garde? What were the roles of experts, elites, and the Rockefeller Foundation in shaping the cultural politics of new music––in the era of serial tyranny and Milton Babbitt's "Who Cares If You Listen?" An interview with musicologists Michael Uy and Eduardo Herrera about their research on funding new music in the Sputnik moment, in both the U.S. and Latin America.Michael Uy is Allston Burr Resident Dean and Assistant Dean of Harvard College, Dunster House, and Lecturer on Music at Harvard. Eduardo Herrera is Associate Professor at Rutgers University and soon to join Indiana University as Associate Professor of Folklore and Ethnomusicology. Show notes and more over at soundexpertise.org!Questions? Thoughts? Share them with Will on Twitter @seatedovation

Composers Datebook
David Ward-Steinman's Cinnabar

Composers Datebook

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 15, 2021 2:00


Synopsis “Listening to inner voices” is a phrase that can mean a lot of things. For musicians who play the viola, PROVIDING those inner voices, musically speaking, is their daily bread and butter. In the modern orchestra, the viola provides the alto voice in the string choir, filling in harmonies and musical lines between the violins on top, and the cellos and double basses on the bottom. But (unfortunately) occasionally violists like to step forward, front and center, as soloists. And some composers have shown a special fondness for the viola's distinctive dusky color. According to the American composer David Ward-Steinman that color might well be likened to cinnabar, the ore of mercury, a crystallized reddish-brown mineral with flashes of quicksilver.  Asked to write a solo for the 19th Annual Viola Congress held at Ithaca, New York, Ward-Steinman's “Cinnabar” for solo viola and piano premiered on today's date in 1991.  David Ward-Steinman served as Composer-in-Residence at San Diego State University for many years. His own teachers included Wallingford Riegger, Darius Milhaud, Milton Babbitt, and Nadia Boulanger. Ward-Steinman's catalog of original works ranges from solo pieces and chamber works like “Cinnabar,” to large-scale theatrical scores and ballets. Music Played in Today's Program David Ward-Steinman (b. 1936): Cinnabar (Karen Elaine, viola; David Ward-Steinman, piano) Fleur de Son 57935

The Rick Z Show
Bethany Beardslee

The Rick Z Show

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 4, 2021 32:05


Singer Bethany Beardslee walks that fine line between classical and jazz, and traditional and experimental. Ms. Beardslee has performed in some of the country's most prestigious venues, singing works by such preeminent composers as Milton Babbitt and Gunther Schuller. At 95 years old, she has recently released her memoirs, I Sang the Unsingable. Rick plays a couple of her best known pieces, and chats with her about her fascinating career. 

ms gunther schuller milton babbitt
Composers Datebook
Verdi gives a refund

Composers Datebook

Play Episode Listen Later May 10, 2021 2:00


Synopsis Is the customer always right? Apparently Giuseppe Verdi thought so–to a degree, at least. On today’s date in 1872, Verdi sent a note to his publisher with an attached letter he had received from a disgruntled customer, a certain Prospero Bertani, who had attended not one, but two performances of Verdi’s brand-new opera, “Aida.” Bertani said, “I admired the scenery... I listened with pleasure to the excellent singers, and took pains to let nothing escape me. After it was over, I asked myself whether I was satisfied. The answer was ‘no’.” Since everyone else seemed to think “Aida” was terrific, Bertani attended a second performance to make sure he wasn’t mistaken, and concluded: “The opera contains absolutely nothing thrilling or electrifying. If it were not for the magnificent scenery, the audience would not sit through it.” Bertini itemized his expenses for tickets, train fare, and meals, and asked Verdi for reimbursement. Verdi was so amused that he instructed Ricordi to pay Bertani – but not the full amount, since, as Verdi put it: “…to pay for his dinner too? No! He could very well have eaten at home!” COMPOSERS DATEBOOK is produced by APM, American Public Media, in collaboration with the American Composers Forum, reminding you that "all music was once new." Music Played in Today's Program Giuseppe Verdi (1813 - 1901) Aida excerpts On This Day Births 1697 - French violinist and composer Jean Marie Leclair, in Lyons; 1888 - Austrian-born American film composer Max Steiner, in Vienna; 1894 - Russian-born American film composer, Dimitri Tiomkin, in St. Petersburg; 1916 - American composer Milton Babbitt, in Philadelphia; Deaths 1760 - German composer Johann Christoph Graupner, age 77, in Darmstadt; Premieres 1876 - Wagner: "Festival March" (commissioned for the American Centennial), at the opening of the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, conducted by Theodore Thomas; 1894 - R. Strauss: opera "Guntram," in Weimar at the Hoftheater, with the composer conducting; 1904 - Alfvén: "Midsommarvaka" (Midsummer Vigil), in Stockholm; 1907 - Dukas: opera "Ariane et Barbe-Blue" (Ariane and Bluebeard),in Paris; 1954 - Rautavaara: "A Requiem in Our Time," in Cincinnati, with Cincinnati Brass Choir, Ernest N, Glover, conducting; This work had won First Prize in the Thor Johnson Composition Contest that year; 1957 - Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No. 2, in Moscow, by the USSR State Symphony, Nikolai Anosov conducting, with the composer's son, Maxim, as the soloist; 1964 - Roy Harris: "Epilogue to ‘Profiles in Courage'" for orchestra, in Los Angeles; 1985 - Peter Maxwell Davies: "An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise" for orchestra with bagpipe solo, ay Boston's Symphony Hall, by the Boston Pops conducted by John Williams; 1985 - Michael Torke: "Ecstatic Orange," at the Cooper Union in New York, by the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Lukas Foss conducting; 1997 - Philip Glass: opera "The Marriage Between Zones Three, Four and Five" (based on the sci-fi novel by Doris Lessing), at the State Theater in Heidelberg (Germany); Others 1824 - American premiere of Mozart's opera "The Marriage of Figaro" (sung in English ) at the Park Theater in New York.

Composers Datebook
Verdi gives a refund

Composers Datebook

Play Episode Listen Later May 10, 2021 2:00


Synopsis Is the customer always right? Apparently Giuseppe Verdi thought so–to a degree, at least. On today’s date in 1872, Verdi sent a note to his publisher with an attached letter he had received from a disgruntled customer, a certain Prospero Bertani, who had attended not one, but two performances of Verdi’s brand-new opera, “Aida.” Bertani said, “I admired the scenery... I listened with pleasure to the excellent singers, and took pains to let nothing escape me. After it was over, I asked myself whether I was satisfied. The answer was ‘no’.” Since everyone else seemed to think “Aida” was terrific, Bertani attended a second performance to make sure he wasn’t mistaken, and concluded: “The opera contains absolutely nothing thrilling or electrifying. If it were not for the magnificent scenery, the audience would not sit through it.” Bertini itemized his expenses for tickets, train fare, and meals, and asked Verdi for reimbursement. Verdi was so amused that he instructed Ricordi to pay Bertani – but not the full amount, since, as Verdi put it: “…to pay for his dinner too? No! He could very well have eaten at home!” COMPOSERS DATEBOOK is produced by APM, American Public Media, in collaboration with the American Composers Forum, reminding you that "all music was once new." Music Played in Today's Program Giuseppe Verdi (1813 - 1901) Aida excerpts On This Day Births 1697 - French violinist and composer Jean Marie Leclair, in Lyons; 1888 - Austrian-born American film composer Max Steiner, in Vienna; 1894 - Russian-born American film composer, Dimitri Tiomkin, in St. Petersburg; 1916 - American composer Milton Babbitt, in Philadelphia; Deaths 1760 - German composer Johann Christoph Graupner, age 77, in Darmstadt; Premieres 1876 - Wagner: "Festival March" (commissioned for the American Centennial), at the opening of the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, conducted by Theodore Thomas; 1894 - R. Strauss: opera "Guntram," in Weimar at the Hoftheater, with the composer conducting; 1904 - Alfvén: "Midsommarvaka" (Midsummer Vigil), in Stockholm; 1907 - Dukas: opera "Ariane et Barbe-Blue" (Ariane and Bluebeard),in Paris; 1954 - Rautavaara: "A Requiem in Our Time," in Cincinnati, with Cincinnati Brass Choir, Ernest N, Glover, conducting; This work had won First Prize in the Thor Johnson Composition Contest that year; 1957 - Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No. 2, in Moscow, by the USSR State Symphony, Nikolai Anosov conducting, with the composer's son, Maxim, as the soloist; 1964 - Roy Harris: "Epilogue to ‘Profiles in Courage'" for orchestra, in Los Angeles; 1985 - Peter Maxwell Davies: "An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise" for orchestra with bagpipe solo, ay Boston's Symphony Hall, by the Boston Pops conducted by John Williams; 1985 - Michael Torke: "Ecstatic Orange," at the Cooper Union in New York, by the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Lukas Foss conducting; 1997 - Philip Glass: opera "The Marriage Between Zones Three, Four and Five" (based on the sci-fi novel by Doris Lessing), at the State Theater in Heidelberg (Germany); Others 1824 - American premiere of Mozart's opera "The Marriage of Figaro" (sung in English ) at the Park Theater in New York.

Un Día Como Hoy
Un Día Como Hoy 10 de Mayo

Un Día Como Hoy

Play Episode Listen Later May 10, 2021 5:26


Un día como hoy, 10 de mayo: Acontece: 1508: en Roma, Miguel Ángel inicia la pintura de los frescos de la Capilla Sixtina. Nace: 1604: Jean Mairet, escritor y dramaturgo francés (f. 1686). 1697: Jean-Marie Leclair, violinista y compositor francés (f. 1764). 1843: Benito Pérez Galdós, escritor y dramaturgo español (f. 1920). 1888: Max Steiner, compositor de música para cine, director de orquesta y pianista austriaco (f. 1971). 1899: Fred Astaire, cantante, actor y bailarín estadounidense (f. 1987). 1916: Milton Babbitt, compositor y educador estadounidense (f. 2011). 1970: Gabriela Montero, pianista venezolana. Fallece: 1849: Hokusai, pintor e ilustrador japonés (n. 1760). Una producción de Sala Prisma Podcast. 2021

Sound Expertise
Diversifying Music Theory with Ellie Hisama

Sound Expertise

Play Episode Play 55 sec Highlight Listen Later Apr 6, 2021 56:19


Music theory has long been a space in which white male scholars analyze music  by white male composers. But many music theorists are actively trying to change that, and our guest today, Professor Ellie Hisama, is foremost among them. In this conversation, we discuss her pioneering work on women modernist composers; diversifying the music theory classroom; her recent scholarship on gender discrimination in music theory, including sexist and homophobic comments made by Milton Babbitt; and a lot more. Ellie Hisama is Professor of Music, Music Theory and Historical Musicology at Columbia University.Show notes and more over at soundexpertise.org!Questions? Thoughts? Share them with Will on Twitter @seatedovation

Countermelody
Episode 83: Frühlingslieder [Spring Songs]

Countermelody

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 4, 2021 94:22


Dear listeners, it is Easter Sunday. While we are strictly non-sectarian at Countermelody, I did want to offer a program of spring favorites to welcome in the earth’s rebirth. (I also had to scramble to create a “filler” episode due to having lost two days of work this week after receiving my first jab on Wednesday.) Hence today’s offering: a Blumenstrauss of songs celebrating the beloved season of spring. I decided to limit today’s selections exclusively to song, omitting opera, operetta, and oratorio, but somewhat arbitrarily including songs from musicals amidst the classical and pop offerings. Even so, what a lineup of stars today: everyone from Mabel Mercer to Jan DeGaetani, from Hans Hotter to Dionne Warwick, from Georgia Brown to Roberta Alexander, from Kirsten Flagstad to Gordon MacRae. We hear composers ranging from Alec Wilder to Franz Schubert, from Milton Babbitt to Burt Bacharach, and from Hugo Wolf to Tom Lehrer. May these songs and songsters help us to welcome in the long-awaited spring! Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” Occasional guests from the “business” (singers, conductors, composers, coaches, and teachers) lend their distinctive insights. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. And please head to my Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available only to Patreon supporters are currently available.

The Nikhil Hogan Show
119: Noam Sivan

The Nikhil Hogan Show

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 8, 2021 96:46


My guest today is Pianist, Improviser, and Composer, Professor Noam Sivan! He is Professor of Piano Improvisation at the HMDK Stuttgart, and we will talk about his remarkable journey, his method to his improvisational craft, his new exciting Master's degree programme in classical piano improvisation that he has created, and much more! 0:35 What's your musical background? 1:21 Did you naturally improvise as a child? 1:56 Mother's influence on creativity 3:25 Tell me about your formal music training in university 4:10 The influence of formal composition study in your undergraduate studies 6:16 Examples of apply a compositional technique in different musical languages 8:26 Did you face any pressure to become a modernist composer 10:00 What was your dream, to be a composer or performing pianist? 13:00 Masters degree 15:27 Studying with Carl Schachter 16:39 An example of Carl Schacter's lessons in improvisation 17:42 What did your professors and peers think of improvisation during your student years? 20:25 Improvising cadenzas 21:06 Meeting Robert Levin 21:31 What did Robert Levin say about your improvising at the time? 23:17 What were the technical things that you worked on to take your improvisation to the next level? 26:30 What is your operating system behind your method of improvisation? 28:18 How did you choose the notes for your right hand improvisation? 30:03 How do you make sure your right hand is not creating contrapuntal mistakes when improvising? 32:55 What's a good way to learn figured bass? 34:35 Do you need to study modern harmony to do what you are doing? 37:24 Studying with Milton Babbitt 40:34 Was the culture at Juilliard supportive of improvisation in Classical music? 41:24 Were the students you taught at the time completely new to classical improvisation? 42:33 What did Milton Babbitt think of improvisation and what you were doing? 43:37 Anecdotes of responses to your improvisations and classes in the early days 45:33 Did you receive negative feedback to improvisation? 48:17 Does being a composer and improviser give you an additional insight into interpretation of repertoire 50:03 Do you any comment on academic or competition style interpretations of repertoire? 52:47 When you have change your system of improvisation to accomodate more modern or contemporary styles of improvisation? 54:34 Do you still maintain the consonance/dissonance framework in a contemporary setting? 56:52 What is anchoring your contemporary improvisations, is it keys or the progression? 58:00 Are you thinking of intervals? 58:19 What tips can you give to more traditional improvisers to broaden their tonal palette into modern music? 1:01:43 Vincent Persichetti's 20th Century Harmony textbook 1:03:44 How does a music educator grade student musical improvisations? 1:08:43 Professor Sivan's new Masters degree programme on classical piano improvisation 1:11:19 How's the reception to the Masters programme? 1:13:07 Do you require incoming students to have a background in improvisation? 1:14:38 How has the culture around classical improvisation now changed compared to when you began? 1:17:49 Professor's Sivan album “Ambiro's Journey” 1:18:48 What's a good ratio for a modern performer's recital pieces for improvised music, original compositions and traditional repertoire? 1:21:30 A memorable experience from your solo improvised piano recitals 1:24:21 Up to this point, what has been your proudest musical moment? 1:27:11 How are you different as an improviser today vs 10 years ago and how do you see yourself grow in the next 10 years? 1:31:31 Wrapping Up

The Holmes Archive of Electronic Music
African American Pioneers of Electronic Music, Part 1

The Holmes Archive of Electronic Music

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 7, 2021 77:17


Episode 32 African American Pioneers of Electronic Music Olly Wilson Playlist Olly Wilson, “Cetus” from Electronic Music IV (1967 Turnabout). Composer, electronic realization on tape, Olly Wilson. Realized in the studio for Experimental Music of the University of Illinois. Wilson was the winner of the First International Electronic Music Competition, Dartmouth College, April 5, 1968. The competition was judged by composers Milton Babbitt, Vladimir Ussachevsky, and George Balch Wilson. The winner was awarded a $500 prize. 9:15. Olly Wilson, “Piano Piece for Piano And Electronic Sound” from Natalie Hinderas Plays Music By Black Composers (1971 Desto). Composer, electronic realization on tape, Olly Wilson; piano, Natalie Hinderas. Electronic sound realized at the Electronic Music Studio of the University of California at Berkeley. No apologetic electronics here. Wilson deftly blends a full range of electronic sounds, from loud and rumbling to delicately wavering, with a piano piece that moves through many of the dynamics of the piano. 10:56. Olly Wilson, “Akwan, For Piano, Electric Piano, Amplified Strings and Orchestra” from Black Composer's Series, Akwan/Squares/Visions of Ishwara (1975 Columbia Masterworks). Composer, electronic realization on tape, Olly Wilson; Piano, Electric Piano, Richard Bunger; Baltimore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paul Freeman. Electronic sound realized at the Electronic Music Studio of the University of California at Berkeley. The word “akwan” comes fromt the Akwan language of West Africa. It means “roads, pathways, opportunities, or directions” (from the liner notes). This large-scale work serves as a kind of conversation between the soloist/orchestra and the electronic sounds. 16.26. Olly Wilson, “Echoes” from American Contemporary, Fantasy/4 Preludes/Echoes/Automobile (1977 CRI). Composer, electronic realization on tape, Olly Wilson; clarinet, Phillip Rehfeldt. Electronic sound realized at the Electronic Music Studio of the University of California at Berkeley. Close integration and interplay of clarinet and tape sounds. This was a performance piece for which the clarinet was amplified, and the tape sounds were projected on a 4-channel speaker system. 10:37. Olly Wilson, “Sometimes” from Other Voices (1977 CRI). Composer, electronic realization on tape, Olly Wilson; tenor, William A Brown. Electronic sound realized at the Electronic Music Studio of the University of California at Berkeley. Based on the Black spiritual “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” this work evolves through a variety of roles for the voice and tape. Opening with highly modified sounds and distorted electronics (yes, those are beautiful and purposeful distortions you hear as part of the original tape!) the tenor is next featured as a soloist, then the elements are combined and mixed in various combinations for the rest of the work. 17.24. Opening and background music is excerpted from Olly Wilson, “Expansion III,” William Grant Still, Olly Wilson, Afro American Symphony, Kaintuck,' Dismal Swamp, Expansions III (1997 Centaur Records). Cincinnati Philharmonia Orchestra. Recorded October 29, 1995 at the Great Hall, University of Cincinnati. Opening and closing sequences voiced by Anne Benkovitz.    

The ProgCast With Gregg Bendian
Rolf Schulte - Episode 24 - The ProgCast With Gregg Bendian

The ProgCast With Gregg Bendian

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 5, 2021 81:33


Rolf Schulte is one of the most riveting violinists performing contemporary classical music. He is widely acknowledged as a passionate and exacting soloist, a champion of Elliott Carter's music, and has worked closely with composers Gyorgy Kurtag, Milton Babbitt, and Charles Wuorinen. Rolf reflects on 50-plus years of interpreting the headiest music of the 20th Century, as we discuss his experiences and his approach to this fiercely modern music.

gregg rolf schulte elliott carter milton babbitt charles wuorinen progcast
RFS: Vox Satanae
Vox Satanae – Episode #497

RFS: Vox Satanae

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 22, 2020 167:29


The Modern Period – Part IV This week we hear works by Sergei Prokofiev, Carl Orff, Milton Babbitt, John Williams, Arvo Pärt, George Tsontakis, Judith Weir, Tan Dun, Nico Muhly, and Conrad Tao. 168 Minutes – Week of November 23, 2020

Composers Datebook
Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge

Composers Datebook

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 4, 2020 2:00


Today we honor one of America’s greatest patrons of chamber music, Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, who died on this date in 1953. Born in 1864, Elizabeth was the daughter of a very wealthy wholesale grocer. She put her inheritance to good use. In 1924, she proposed to the Library of Congress that an auditorium be constructed in Washington DC, which would be dedicated to the performance of chamber music. A year later it was built, and Coolidge Auditorium at the Library of Congress still stands today. Not content with just a superb venue for chamber music, Mrs. Coolidge diligently commissioned new works to be played there. The list of important chamber pieces her Foundation commissioned is impressive, and includes Bartok and Schoenberg string quartets, the original chamber versions of Copland’s “Appalachian Spring,” Stravinsky’s “Apollo” ballets, and modern works by American composers as diverse as Samuel Barber, Milton Babbitt, George Crumb, and John Corigliano. Mrs. Coolidge was herself an amateur composer and accomplished pianist. Her passion for music and enthusiasm for the creation of new works was all the more remarkable considering that tragically she herself battled deafness from her mid-thirties.

Composers Datebook
Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge

Composers Datebook

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 4, 2020 2:00


Today we honor one of America’s greatest patrons of chamber music, Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, who died on this date in 1953. Born in 1864, Elizabeth was the daughter of a very wealthy wholesale grocer. She put her inheritance to good use. In 1924, she proposed to the Library of Congress that an auditorium be constructed in Washington DC, which would be dedicated to the performance of chamber music. A year later it was built, and Coolidge Auditorium at the Library of Congress still stands today. Not content with just a superb venue for chamber music, Mrs. Coolidge diligently commissioned new works to be played there. The list of important chamber pieces her Foundation commissioned is impressive, and includes Bartok and Schoenberg string quartets, the original chamber versions of Copland’s “Appalachian Spring,” Stravinsky’s “Apollo” ballets, and modern works by American composers as diverse as Samuel Barber, Milton Babbitt, George Crumb, and John Corigliano. Mrs. Coolidge was herself an amateur composer and accomplished pianist. Her passion for music and enthusiasm for the creation of new works was all the more remarkable considering that tragically she herself battled deafness from her mid-thirties.

Trysteropod
Trysteropod | Episode 4 - Schoenberg Dreaming and why does Michele Bachmann suck so bad?

Trysteropod

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 12, 2019 65:57


Dorian and David talk about music and politics. Why does Michele Bachmann suck so bad?Show Notes:Toby Twining: Schoenberg Dreaminghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cze1qTQ0cTwToby Twining https://tobytwining.bandcamp.com/track/orpheus-at-the-gatesTodd Reynoldshttp://www.toddreynolds.com/Abletonhttps://www.ableton.com/en/Doricohttps://new.steinberg.net/dorico/Richard Wolffhttps://www.rdwolff.com/Did Saul Alinsky Dedicate ‘Rules for Radicals’ to Lucifer?https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/saul-alinsky-dedicated-rules-for-radicals-to-lucifer/Did Saul Alinsky Dedicate ‘Rules for Radicals’ to Lucifer?https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/saul-alinsky-dedicated-rules-for-radicals-to-lucifer/The Jan Markell Showhttps://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Jan_Markell

Your Classical Coffee Break
#134 No Emotions Please!

Your Classical Coffee Break

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 1, 2019 22:14


This coffee break follows the evolution of the twelve-tone movement right into the post-Webern period. First off, we listen to Eliot Carter's Concert for Orchestra and a composition by Milton Babbitt to hear how abstract the sound had become in reaction to Webern. Then we explore Leaves are Falling by Warren Benson and other compositions which take the sound in a different, anti-post-Webern, emotional direction. Art Isn't Easy. contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com

SMT-V
SMT-V 5.1 Joshua Banks Mailman, “Babbitt’s Beguiling Surfaces, Improvised Inside; Part I: Freedoms"

SMT-V

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 23, 2019 10:15


Milton Babbitt has been a controversial and iconic figure, which has indirectly led to fallacious assumptions about how his music is made, and therefore to fundamental misconceptions about how it might be heard and appreciated. This video (the first of a three-part video essay) reconsiders his music in light of both his personal traits and a more precise examination of the constraints and freedoms entailed by his unusual and often misunderstood compositional practices, which are based inherently on partial ordering (as well as pitch repetition), which enables a surprising amount of freedom to compose the surface details we hear. The opening of Babbitt’s _Composition for Four Instruments_ (1948) and three recompositions (based on re-ordering of pitches) demonstrate the freedoms intrinsic to partial ordering.

freedom composition surfaces mailman improvised babbitt beguiling milton babbitt joshua banks four instruments
Your Classical Coffee Break
# 98 How Atonal and Electronic Music Evolved to Broader Audiences

Your Classical Coffee Break

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 22, 2018 23:06


This coffee break continues the discussion of the 20th Century Crisis in classical music where atonality and electronic music divided listeners into separate camps. We listen to a piece by Milton Babbitt to illustrate how music became more academic. The music evolved in the later part of the century and reconnected with audiences in brilliant new ways, particularly in narratives such as Peter Westergaard's opera based on Moby Dick and Qiang Zhang's Nanking Nanking. We discuss Karel Husa's Apotheosis of This Earth (hear the piece by clicking below.) Help support Your Classical Coffee Break by donating at http://mauriceriverpress.com/html/yccb.html Listen to Karel Husa "Apotheosis of This Earth" https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=hG6HHExLDzY

5049 Records
Episode 171, James Fei

5049 Records

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 6, 2018 87:00


Composer/saxophonist/educator/electronic musician stays busy, very busy. He's a scholar and a gentleman. Raised in Taipei, he originally moved to the United States to study electrical engineering at Princeton, before getting bitten by the experimental/contemporary music bug. He's studied with Anthony Braxton, Alvin Lucier and Milton Babbitt and has performed his own work all over the world at the Kitchen, SF MOMA, STEIM and many more. He's a solid and thoughtful music maker and his wide interests seem to only broaden with time and experience.

The Portfolio Composer
Ep 159-Laura Karpman on Being an Artist First

The Portfolio Composer

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 14, 2017 34:35


Four-time Emmy winning composer and composer of the Grammy-winning album Ask Your Mama, Laura Karpman maintains a vibrant career in film, television, video-game and concert music. Her most recent credits include the series Underground, in collaboration with Raphael Saadiq and John Legend, Step, a Sundance 2017 favorite, Eleanor Coppola's Paris Can Wait starring Diane Lane and Alec Baldwin. Laura has received two GANG awards and an additional nomination for her videogame music which has been performed by orchestras internationally, as well as an Annie Feature nomination. She serves as an advisor for the Sundance Film Scoring Labs and is on the faculty of the USC Film Scoring Program. Laura is the founding President of the Alliance for Women Film Composers and is proud to serve as a governor of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She has graduate degrees from Juilliard where she studied with Milton Babbitt, where she spent her time in NYC composing and studying the complexities of concert music by day, while playing jazz and scat singing in Manhattan clubs by night. Laura loves to teach and does so whenever she can. She currently serves on the faculty of the USC Film Scoring Program & the New Media and Music Technology Program at San Francisco Conservatory. Join The Portfolio Composer community and support the creation of the platform on Patreon. Just $1/month to enable the creation of more great content to help you build your career! Composer and founder of The Alliance for Women Film Composers Laura Karpman discusses making artist the first priority and why you need to get your name on all the lists. Topics discussed in this episode: New music vs jazz Milton Babbitt's "Who Cares If You Listen" Caring about every note you write Sundance Labs Moving from NYC to LA Learning to be super simple Learning by failure No wasted cues—everything finds its home Alliance for Women Film Composers Be an artist first Get on the lists Website: laurakarpman.com Recommended Listening: Igor Stravinsky, The Firebird John Coltrane, My Favorite Things Jason Moran, 13th Recommended Reading: Octavia Butler, Kindred Help composers find the podcast by giving The Portfolio Composer a review on iTunes!  This post contains affiliate links.

WFMT: Critical Thinking and Critic's Choice
Who’s Afraid of Milton Babbitt? – Part 2 (rebroadcast) (Critical Thinking)

WFMT: Critical Thinking and Critic's Choice

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 27, 2017 59:20


In a program from 2011,  Andrew Patner presents the second of a series: "Who's Afraid of Milton Babbitt?," an exploration of the music and contributions of the American composer, theorist, and teacher.   [...]

Music Matters
Milton Babbitt: Changing the way we think about music

Music Matters

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 19, 2016 43:57


Daniele Gatti on life as the new Chief Conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, plus Sara Mohr-Pietsch examines the life and work of avant-garde American composer Milton Babbitt and 19th-Century conductor Hans Richter.

music american way we think chief conductor royal concertgebouw orchestra milton babbitt hans richter daniele gatti sara mohr pietsch
Amplitudes
Amplitudes : Dernière de la saison

Amplitudes

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 19, 2015


On célèbre la dernière émission de la saison en compagnie de Raphaël et Jérémy et de chroniquants résideurs au sommet de leur sérieux. Au programme, une playlist qui ne respecte aucune cohérence de genre ou de temps. Un grand merci à toutes et à tous de nous avoir écouté et suivi cette année. Tracklist : Fogh Depot - Mining (BTC) (Fogh Depot, 2015) Mount Eerie - Emptiness (Sauna, 2015) Long Arm - Night of the Million Cricket (Kellion / The Stories of a Young Boy, 2015) Sundrugs - Let's Can't Sleep Together (Low, 2014) Sóley - Devil (Ask the Deep, 2015) Grails - Dead Vine Blues (Burning Off Impurities, 2007) Tom Day - Flemington (2014 Collection, 2014) Broadcast - Lights Out (Work and Non Work, 1997) Stereolab - Seeperbold (Aluminum Tunes, 1998) Earl Sweatshirt feat. Na-Kel - DNA (I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside: An Album by Earl Sweatshirt, 2015) Saul Williams feat. Emily Kokal - Burundi (Martyr Loser King, 2016) Terrence Dixon - Links (Train of Thought, 2007) Dave DK - Smukke Lyde (Val Maira, 2015) Tapage - ML7W (Fallen Clouds, 2009) Inventions - Springworlds (Maze of Woods, 2014) Brian Eno - In Dark Trees (Music for Films, 1978) Photo : Studio 317 au Columbia Princeton Electronic Music Center ; de gauche à droite : Pril Smiley, Mario Davidovsky, Milton Babbitt, Vladimir Ussachevsky, Otto Luehning, Alice Shields et Bülent Arel (circa 1970)

Composer Conversations with Daniel Vezza
podcast 52-Fred Lerdahl

Composer Conversations with Daniel Vezza

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 10, 2013 73:09


Fred is a New York based composer whose music has been commissioned and performed by major chamber ensembles and orchestras. His seminal book A Generative Theory of Tonal Music, co-authored with linguist Ray Jackendoff, is a founding document for the growing field of the cognitive science of music. He studied at Lawrence University, Princeton, and Tanglewood. He has taught at UC/Berkeley, Harvard, and Michigan, and since 1991 has been Fritz Reiner Professor of Musical Composition at Columbia University, where he directs the composition program. Three of his works composed since 2000 - Time after Time for chamber ensemble, the Third String Quartet, and Arches for cello and chamber orchestra – have been finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in music. You can listen to more of his music at www.fredlerdahl.com.In out conversation we talk about his time studying at Tanglewood and with Milton Babbitt at Princeton, the differences in his approach to composing and music theory, and the changing academic landscape in the field of composition.

Composer Conversations with Daniel Vezza
podcast 48-Wei-Chieh Lin

Composer Conversations with Daniel Vezza

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 13, 2013 59:18


Wei-Chieh Lin is a New York based composer who was born in Taichung, Taiwan, his music has been performed at venues in the U.S. and abroad, including the Gaudeamus Muziekweek, Centre Pompidou, Lincoln Center, Weill Recital Hall and the National Concert Halls in Taiwan. Among the ensembles that have performed or commissioned his works are Ensemble InterContemporain, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Makrokomos Ensemble, as well as members of eighth blackbird and Klangforum Wien. You can listen to more of his music at www.soundcloud.com/wei-chieh-lin.In our conversation we talk about how he ended living in New York, his time studying with Milton Babbitt, and his approach to structural thinking.

Top Score
Top Score: Laura Karpman

Top Score

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 3, 2011 31:30


What does 20th-century American composer Milton Babbitt (1916-2011) have to do with video game music? A lot, as it turns out.

Luna Nova Music
Brian Ferneyhough: Carceri d'Invenzione IIb

Luna Nova Music

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 20, 2005 12:39


marimba carceri brian ferneyhough milton babbitt
Luna Nova Music
Milton Babbitt: Concerto Piccolino

Luna Nova Music

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 20, 2005 4:25


concerto marimba milton babbitt piccolino