Posted on 01/29/2011 2:50:14 PM PST by Borges
Milton Babbitt, godfather of American ascetic music, has died aged 94. He was far more than his music let on. A mathematician and wit, he once taught Stephen Sondheim, who spoke of him ever after with warm appreciation.
In a 2004 interview, Sondheim said: 'Babbitt taught me what long-line composition is about, how to organise music over a span of time. It has to be the musical equivalent of a plot in a play.'
(Excerpt) Read more at artsjournal.com ...
Oh man, do you have two of those? I’m gunna go eat something!
Charles Ives: 3 Quarter-Tone pieces (1924)
NOTE: The two grand pianos are tuned a quarter-tone apart...
Personal note: When I was in High School, I asked my brother to drive me to a record store in Manhattan so I could buy my own LP (I'd first heard this composition in a music class). When we got home and I played it for him, he looked at me funny and said "What the heck is WRONG with you?"... :-)
"Oh, bravo! BRAAAH-VOOOOOO!"
He was also a major figure in the development of electronic synthesized music.
He lived a long life and stayed active teaching until the end.
What crap.
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