Milton Babbitt
Quatrains, My Ends are My Beginnings
Soli e Duettini, Manifold Music, Swan Song No. 1
Classical CD Review
New York Times review (payment required) |
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Milton Babbitt
Premiere recordings
Quatrains (1993)
Tony Arnold, soprano
Charles Neidich and Ayako Oshima, clarinet
Manifold Music (1995)
Gregory D’Agostino, organ
My Ends Are My Beginnings (1978)
Allen Blustine, clarinet and bass clarinet
Soli e Duettini (1989)
William Anderson and Oren Fader, guitar
Swan Song No. 1 (2003)
Cygnus Ensemble
Jeffrey Milarsky, conductor
BRIDGE 9135
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Milton Babbitt remains a controversial figure on today’s musical scene, with
his ideas more frequently discussed than his music is actually listened to. This
recording contains the premiere recordings of five Babbitt works that span a
quarter of a century. The CD opens with a performance of Babbitt’s exquisite
"Quatrains", sung by the brilliant young American soprano, Tony
Arnold. Set to a text by a Babbitt favorite–John Hollander–"Quatrains"
is a work of great delicacy and subtlety. "Manifold Music" shows
Babbitt adapting his language to the organ in a most original manner. Exploiting
the instrument’s potential for colorful registration, Babbitt’s demanding
score is a spectacular workout for the hands and feet of organ virtuoso, Gregory
D’Agostino. "My Ends Are My Beginnings" has, since its composition
in 1978, been regarded by many as one of most difficult-to-play works for a solo
woodwind instrument. The work’s dedicatee, Allen Blustine (long-time
clarinetist for Speculum Musicae), gives a heroic reading of this 17 minute
solo. "Soli e Duettini" is one of three works with this title. This
work, for two guitars, is played by dedicatees William Anderson and Oren Fader.
(This premiere recording was previously issued on BRIDGE 9042). The final work
is Babbitt’s just completed "Swan Song No. 1". It is a remarkable
composition for the unusual combination of flute, oboe, mandolin, guitar, violin
and cello. CD Annotator Matthias Kriesberg writes, "The experience of
hearing Milton Babbitt, who for so long played off the boundaries of musical
dimensions against one another, now reign in the extremes so dramatically as to
focus the ear on the centered drama of calm voices interacting, is certainly
extraordinary. But should we really be surprised? After all, there is a long,
rich history of composers who, having definitively proven their ability to wrest
music in an entirely new direction, turned their attention inward, ever inward,
to contemplate that place, in the words of W.B. Yeats, ‘where all the ladders
start.’"
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