Milton Babbitt - Philomel

[ubentu]

Oh my god... After listening to this in the background for a minute or two my brain is tingling... This is amazing and I'm totally sober too.. Just do something else with this in the background

[ubentu]

@KhagarBalugrak a true badass you are

[robertsonator]

mighty boosh new note

[mrtyles]

You know it takes a while to appreciate this kind of music. When I first heard it years ago, I was like "what is this shit?" Now I love it.

[ozeri]

this is so so great . the reason why music is more great then the usual stuff.

[dantean]

@ozeri By "the usual stuff" were you referring to dentistry? Hamburgers? Those embarrassing flakes (i.e., dandruff)? Perhaps a combination of all these?

[buchanan012]

he... he HE... he TREEEEEEEEES

[kellyhut1]

Awful.

[pjnguyen90]

@kellyhut1 awful? More like different or misunderstood

[davidcarterdavidcart]

nice creepy photo, there should be amputees walking slowly across the screen

[muslit]

babbitt is emerging as the last most significant american modernist after 1950. pace carter.

[nasutdog]

When does the girl crawl through the television? This is the video that was in The Ring, right?

[Patience1138]

I do not feel comfortable calling this music. However, it would make one heck of a movie sound effects track!

[Reishirosama]

This sounds like the music used in that one Spongebob episode where he's going through time or something.

[gfig3]

@Reishirosama fuuuutturre fuuuttturreee!!!!

[dantean]

@Reishirosama Exactly backward: this doesn't sound like music from a Spongebob episode, there's a Spongebob episode with music that sounds like THIS. Get it?!

[khbgkh]

This piece makes a whole lot more sense than much of Babbitt's other work, specifically his piano compositions which are just complete confusion for the sake of confusion.

[LesbianStraightGay]

@khbgkh I enjoy his piano composition much more than this.

[khbgkh]

@LesbianStraightGay thats fine. nobody else does.

[sleepytimejesse]

@khbgkh Because you asked everybody.

[khbgkh]

@sleepytimejesse lols

[LesbianStraightGay]

@khbgkh nobody else except for some other people

[StewieSwan]

Just because you can doesn't mean you should..

[jerseystitch]

Is that Madame Patrice Berberia?

[XE1GXG]

¿A quién NO le va a gustar esta obra? Es phe-no-me-nal. No toda la obra de Babbitt es tan asequible como ésta, aunque toda su obra es interesante y variada. Un campo mucho más vasto que la repetición incesante de Steve Reich, el Glass y por supuesto todos los pos-modernitos con sus fusiones de esto y aquello, o pero aún, los que tratan de escribir música tonal, y ya ni pueden armonizar un pinche coral...

[whussupbros]

I wanna download this. Someone send me a link plox.

[LevMysh68]

An incredible piece, an incredible man. RIP Milton Babbitt.

[andrewbareham]

@khagarbalugrak, I can't believe that you said that Milton Babbitt is a purveyor of musical atrocity. It is apparent that you are uneducated in this musical style. I have noticed by looking through your favorites, you have a very limited taste. You would find music much more fulfilling by broadening your horizons. I feel sorry for you if you stay closed minded. If you do, just do us all a favor and never attempt to compose something. I get a feeling that it would be tremendously derivative.

[andrewbareham]

@khagarbalugrak, @lesbianstraighgay, everyone needs to realize that there is no such thing as a bad genre. Each person just has a different capacity to enjoy certain music. Just because you do not enjoy pop, or metal, or 12-tone does not remove any inherent quality from them. I read the Milton Babbitt article 3 years ago and I could not have agreed more. People have fallen into a comfortable area where they understand everything that is presented to them without any challenge.

[sonicpainter]

rest in dǝɐɔǝ ecaep ıu tser

ɹǝsʇ ni peace ǝɔɐǝd uı ʇsǝɹ

[degraydog104]

idk wtf this is but i love it! i've heard some of babbitt's earlier works in other places but i am very sorry to see him pass away :( R.I.P

[mikeshorin]

you fucking fags can go suck JB's little cock, if you don't like, don't watch. Technique is what music's all about hahahha don't play technique, play music. Fucking know nothing about music, do ya? BOOLsheet?

[JohnCalanchini]

@mikeshorin man you make art music lovers look so great

[JohnCalanchini]

@mikeshorin man you make art music lovers look so great

[khbgkh]

@mikeshorin congratulations, this is the most unintelligent comment made in support of art music i've ever seen.

[18OttO84]

garbage

[BOOLsheet]

play music not formulas or techniques

[stablerrobert]

milton babbitt just died. he was 94.

[KhagarBalugrak]

@stablerrobert, the world has lost a purveyor of musical atrocity. I'm sad for Milton himself, but his music is destructive - it says nothing but "fuck you" to the listener. This is clear, for who else would write articles for major newspapers called "Who Cares If You Listen?"

Atonal music has been proven in scientific studies to be harmful to living things just like heavy metal. As such, I have flagged this video for hateful/abusive content.

[LesbianStraightGay]

@KhagarBalugrak There are no serious studies on this issue. Mostly rumours about heavy metal- the worst music genre ever.Let alone the fact that Milton died at the age of 94-considerably higher than an average lifetime, while Elliott Carter who has been composing nothing but atonal music since 1930 is still very active (he is 102 years old).And I find this music to be very beautiful. Like mathematics.Moreover,atonal elements in music were used here and there even by Bach and even before him

[Mastersopinion]

@LesbianStraightGay the worst music genre ever? and you tried to be factual? lol

[LesbianStraightGay]

@Mastersopinion It's not necessarily bad, I just wanted to stress the difference between serious art music and amateur music.

[LesbianStraightGay]

@KhagarBalugrak Also, the original name of the article is "Composer as specialist", which was changed without his permission. He wrote that people need to make an effort to enjoy new sophisticated music, but most people not only wish not to do it, but also the are not interested in new music at all. I mean really new music, not pop music, which is always the same.

[Caramellatta]

@LesbianStraightGay What I understood from his article was not that people need to make an effort to enjoy new sophisticated music, but that it's simply not for everyone. It's by and for specialists."Why should the layman be other than bored and puzzled by what he is unable to understand? It is only the translation of this boredom and puzzlement into resentment and denunciation that seems to me indefensible." I don't like this, but I have no right to say it's not music. "Music" is subjective.

[LesbianStraightGay]

@Caramellatta I enjoy this without any special knowledge.

[Mastersopinion]

@KhagarBalugrak you must be kidding, if not I'm sorry for you

[TTSGEB]

@KhagarBalugrak Hateful/abusive content? You're kidding, right?

[mattz1010]

@KhagarBalugrak you realize that's not the title he chose for the article right? lol. Oh wait, you're one of those people who would rather music be spoon-fed to you, rather than having to actually think about what you're listening to.

[KhagarBalugrak]

@mattz1010, bullshit. I went to conservatory. I have a keen awareness of what musical forms are communicating, and the sort of musical language employed in this piece is destructive, ugly, and without basis. You and all the other people who like this kind of music are fooling yourselves.

[mattz1010]

@KhagarBalugrak Did you even bother to analyze it or read articles written about Philomel? I can assue not - you're the one arguing for the destruction of music when it doesn't suit your aesthetics. Truly hypocritical. Weak.

[Ooger77]

@KhagarBalugrak Just because you went to conservatory doesn't mean you know how to understand this music. To call this music ugly is fine. To call it destructive is fine. But without basis does not even logically hold up because destructive and ugly is most certainly a basis for music; not that Babbit actually did base this composition on those things but I'm pointing out that your statement invalidates itself. But hey, at least you're not so ignorant to not call it music. Kudos.

[bennymcfarlane]

@KhagarBalugrak I think it's good to expose yourself of stuff that's outside of traditional minors, modes, ragas, meters, etc... The important thing about this piece is that it has a tangible aesthetic. I don't relate to it instantly, but when I hear it, I hear substance and purpose, it makes me want to listen to it again and think about the sort of proto-poetry accompanying it. Would I pick it over a Yundi Li concert? No. But that doesn't mean I can't listen and smile. New wrinkles on the brain

[utkusarioglu]

@KhagarBalugrak so you know what serialism is. and you can still think that this work has little or no intellectual merit. wow

[LesbianStraightGay]

R.I.P.

[windstorm1000]

I love atonal experiemental music. like this., tired of beethoven!

[AyumuVanguard]

I'm with @BOARBIG here.

[BOARBIG]

Damn, this is insane. And catchy.

[lardd22]

This is almost as creepy as Arnold Schoenberg's pieces

makes the hair on the back of my neck stand

[MrSantzaholic]

Sounds like a rape...Mission accomplished.

[yunxin1984]

makes me crazy

[NasaXnieru]

Atonality!

[paulpwns66]

ahh, I love the Twelve Tone System.

[lovesGenet]

 I love these timbres!

[heyazacahey]

M e s  m e r i z i n g

[IgorSavtchenko]

Very few people even know about this music, let alone like or understand it. I think that youTube is helping it get exposure. I personally prefer Alvin Lucier, Pauline Oliveros,Phill Niblock, Harry Partch and Glenn Branca a lot more than this, but Babbitt is a very important composer and theorist. The great thing is that he is still alive, at 94 years of age.

[culveyhouse]

B zzzozzoikszz z zz beeoingggg.... (that's the sound of my neurons springing right out of my brain). Babbitt is a genius, don't be deceived. But there's no way to make the genius in Philomel popular. In fact, as much as I admire Philomel, I can only listen to it once per year, before the neurons start popping out of my head with that springing sound...

[ASirensSoliloquy]

Mathematics at its finest.

[XE1GXG]

Endure Schonberg or this is a relative term. Imagine having to endure Ligeti, about the most mechanistic, process-oriented and BORING of the post post moderns. Still, i like Ligeti...Babbitt has moments of glory, like this one..

[clarencekellerII]

lol...was it made to listen too while on acid? jk...kinda

[MustangsDog]

I keep thinking that something is gonna come out of the woods and try to freak me out... :P

[crazy6425]

One of the first pieces composed using a computer where the composer really knew what they wanted before they heard the product. An accomplishment even if you don't hear this piece as beautiful. I think it's beautiful, but hey... to each their own.

[mryantaylor]

all in good fun

[EmmaEasterling]

lol This is funnier that The Residents.  But not as good.

[ThePunkPatriot]

Listening to Squarepusher for a long time has opened my mind to Milton Babbit.

[cellardoor91]

i think we found the retards.

[matticusstupendicus]

I think I just found the worst soundtrack to an acid trip EVER. Lol gotta love the classics though.

[mathijs1987j]

@handmadeultras

That's a disgusting opinion. I happen to be very stupid and I still love this music.

[spok1987]

I have to agree with the chap below me, this is for a few open minded listeners only. Art over logic.

[CreativeBrowsing]

THE FUCK IS THIS?

[linceed87]

fuck me, mozart beethoven and bach would kill themselves, anyone who actually listens to this is a fucking poser, learn real melody harmony and music not this shit!!!

this makes me wanna poop... seriously, off to the bathroom

[KhagarBalugrak]

@guitars2112, this piece is enjoyable if you like experiencing mental pain. But hey, musical BDSM is ok, right? Well actually, no, it's not ok. Sorry to tell you the truth.

[stanchinsky]

@linceed87 Milton Babbitt was easily just as versed in so called "real" harmony and melody as the composers you mentioned , if not more so. Don't forget to wipe. ;)

[mathijs1987j]

@stanchinsky

More so than Bach? I admire Babbitt, but that seems like a bit of a stretch.

[stanchinsky]

@mathijs1987j At least as much as Bach!

[Nick0783]

@stanchinsky How do you know this?

[stanchinsky]

@Nick0783 I was replying to a poster who for some reason was looking to hear Mozart or Bach while visiting a video of a Milton Babbitt work... That said, look into Milton for yourself, it should become clear why poetically I hold the previously posted "opinion" with regards to putting him in the same category of other "GREAT MASTERS". He is a very intelligent man as well as a great composer.

[Nick0783]

@stanchinsky I had a look on line for some evidence regarding Babbitt'smusical knowledge and background. He learnt sax and violin as a kid and got some training at college, but I couldn't find out much else. He is obviously clever, articulate and gifted mathematically but I find it hard to believe that someone with the superhuman gifts of a beethoven or Bach would produce the sort of music Babbitt did. I have a feeling that he re wrote the rules to suit his own musical limitations.

[stanchinsky]

@Nick0783 I respect your feelings.

[Nick0783]

@stanchinsky An uncharacteristically conciliatory reply for a you tube forum, nice one!

[ThePunkPatriot]

@stanchinsky Yup. He also spent YEARS playing pop tunes in working bands.

Also, he had perfect pitch.

He's kinda Frank Zappa, before Frank Zappa was Frank Zappa.

[paranoidjones]

@stanchinsky

agree.... this music, like the french spectral composers, is a natural 20th century extension of traditional tonal harmony/orchestration/etc.

[paranoidjones]

@stanchinsky

agree.... this music, like that of the french spectral composers, is a natural 20th century extension of traditional tonal harmony/orchestration/etc.

[Robusto103]

mozart, beethoven and bach lived centuries ago. today, there's still some people who just don't understand that things change sometimes, and that there can be something beyond "real melody, harmony and music", and that doing something different from it doesn't mean to ignore it, but to choose to go somewhere else (at the bathroom, maybe?) ;)

[hollermahler]

Can you post the other sections?

[organdude44]

Yes, I believe this is the great Bethany Beardslee-a pioneer in 20th century music. you can download it on iTunes.

[tomasgonzaga]

Who's the singer?

[zenocomplex]

Thank you for posting this, seriously.

[StupidProverb]

This is awesome, so catchy, I can't stop listening

[bebepanales5]

i just noticed how dizzy the visual part makes me o.e shoulda made it stay still xd

[dcrepino]

Is this Bethany Beardslee?

[WrestlingHeretic]

Yes.  Anyone interested in this work should read a recent paper by Christopher M. Barry.

[christineanderson]

A bit frazzling to the aura, Milton...

[jarhead9887]

Actually there was no such failure in his writing! This music has a theme. The vocal part is sung in what is called "recitative" in a sence it is a "medium", if you will, of speaking and singing. I would suggest "Pierrot Lunaire" by Schoenberg!

[TrumpetDMw00t]

Now that you mention it, this sounds extremely similar to Pierrot Lunaire!!! I couldn't figure out why it sounded so damn familiar! Good call!

[Robusto103]

probably it's because of the sprechgesang

[laurion69]

This is simply a crap!

Nothing else but a crap!

[soulmman]

It's not crap.. It's an experiment of serialism and twelve-tone in a modernist movement. Experimentation is good.

[laurion69]

Twelve-tone and serialism experiment failed!

It produced just a mass of ugly music.

[Adian00]

I feel a million trees too. Actually, I did a thesis on this composition in College. Babbitt worked closely with RCA to develop a more precise Synthesizer - the RCA Mark II. Anyways, this piece was composed by him for Bethany Beardslee and I believe this is the original recording performed by her.

[tinypapercube]

Babbitt is a funny old guy, I met him once. He started out writing showtunes, you know. Is this Judith Bettina? It sounds like her. She's a great interpreter of his work. I've seen her perform many times.

[southwestpaw17]

i'm scared.

[sverror]

I like it! It's Such an honor for me to listen to something like this. I try so hard to open my mind and float into the world of Electronic Music, this took me there! To the center, the core, the foundations! Bravo, it's incredible!!

[pandis1993]

This makes me sick. How can you even call this music?

[MingusDisciple]

It certianly requires a patient ear to understand, enjoy, and decode. It is a fascinating work, and a bold statement.

[vitor54]

great piece!

[jessanddaron1]

this was like an experiment with one of the first synthesizers. imagine learning how to compose music (noones done this before) with a room sized instrument no ones used before...

[fifthera]

tonekicker007 is right,i dont care how "clever" this alledgedly is,it is unlistenable noodling,everything that is wrong with "modernism".

[sonicpsychiatry]

I have yet to come across one interesting Babbitt electronic piece. He's certainly no Stockhausen or Xenakis.

[flammesombres]

Although I think Philomel (in its entirety, not just this 4 minute clip) is a masterpiece, Babbitt's electronic pieces tend to be the weakest of his compositional output. Try Transfigured Notes, Arie da Capo, Melismata, or Septet but Equal for his best work.

[ninja9leaf]

lsd + this music whooped me out of the chair, out of the room and almost out of my pants!

[EchoCannon89]

With this type of music sometimes it's very good and sometimes it is very bad; there's no in-between. I think this one is pretty good, anyone with a sophisticated understanding of music will be able to see that there's something going on here and it's more than just random noises delivered in a pretentious way. If I didn't know anything about music I would think it was stupid and I think that the vast majority of people will see it that way

[organman52]

Utterly inspired - much like Bach. I'm sure he heard every note in his head.

[megza14]

Friction always has created. Good work Milt, yer still creating

[ToneKicker007]

Whether this requires skill to write or not. It is awful.

[Cutie0363]

uh no offenece this sucks srry to tell u

[cker54]

just because you understand it, doesn't mean it's pleasant to listen to.

[Danman917]

If only I was high...

[toskoramone]

i seriously can't believe that people actually consider this music. THIS IS A BUNCH OF FUCKING RANDOM SOUNDS!!

[timkick]

Music is sound. Just because it has no set rhythm or timing doesn't meant it's not music. Quit being to closed minded.

[connectwired]

I suppose then, it's important to clarify what definition of music we're using, because the last time I checked, regardless of whether you consider tonality or rhythmic form or intention or anything of that sort to be inherent in the definition of music, it definitely wasn't a synonym for sound. If it is, why not just call this sound?

[MingusDisciple]

well, I think it's wrong to say there's no set rhythm or timing, rather, there are set timings and rhythms. There are definatley patterns and mottifs. I think that organization is what makes it classifiable as music.

[connectwired]

Yes, I agree with this.

[HonusToThe5]

It's okay, I've read "Composer as Anachronism."

So, for all the musical peons commenting, it's only natural you can't (under) stand this. And that's okay.

[toskoramone]

hey, i know my way around musical theory, but that doesn't mean this is not shit. sure, anachronism is interesting in theory, but it sounds like crap.

[emperorIng360]

@Honus:

Also, calling other folk "musical peons" totally doesn't make you look like a total pompous douchebag.

It's folks like that that make modernism unbearing, because as much as I hate modernism, it was a reaction against the stuffy academia of the old type of music. And then once the modernists got in charge, they turned into the big pompous d-bags in turn.

So go on listening to your kitchen noises and pretend you're smarter than everyone else, you no-brain. Enlighten us later.

[ClotildaBeatissima]

Come on, don't be snotbags. 20th Century music isn't for everyone. It's okay to hate it. I wouldn't say I hate it, but I'm not that crazy about it.  I'm not "afraid of it", I'm not "disturbed by it"...I just don't enjoy it. I don't particularly enjoy Mozart and Haydn, either.

[ClotildaBeatissima]

But I love "Philomel". My only problem is the ending doesn't do the final words justice. "I am becoming my own song". Come on, all of us live for that moment of finding our own song...a line like that shouldn't end so forgettably!

[Clittl15]

Despite negative opinion, I really do like 20th Century music and enjoyed listening to this. Very pointillistic in texture. Thanks for posting!

[yournullfame]

Listening to this at the same time as Yabby You, somehow it's working.

[shanecavo]

sounds like michael jackson on lsd

[Stoopchow]

Its just bad like. Anyone could write this

[timkick]

I bet you couldn't write this. Somehow I doubt you have the mathematical prowess.

[Stoopchow]

In fact I wouldn't want to have written this.

[DannyLovesRush]

Actually, Babbit didn't "write" this, as much as he formulated it. Babbit reduced every aspect of music to a formula. Babbit's music isn't an exhibition of musicality, it's a demonstration of the power and complexity of math.

That being said, it is rather unbarable at times.

[TheKomponist]

It's a pity that people like you feel free to post such unequivocal comments concerning things about which you know nothing. Babbitt didn't (and doesn't) "reduce . . . every aspect of music to a formula." You may knot know this, but I know him very well, and I do. Please limit yourself to commenting on subjects that you know something about.

[DannyLovesRush]

It is a pity people like you cannot use the right spelling of not...

Also, it is a pity you know him personally.

I would hate to be friends with an individual that viewed music a subject of essays and math, not a subject of communication and connection.

Next time you feel the need to correct someone, please for the sake of calling yourself intelligent, spell a simple three letter word correctly...

[Flatliner0452]

every asshole on the internet always uses the spelling defense. go kill yourself, you have nothing to add to this world.

[Flatliner0452]

incidentally Rush rules.

[Flatliner0452]

I think you confused me with the first guy.

[DannyLovesRush]

You're right, I am so sorry.

I did not mean to offend you in any way.

I am removing my comment, right now.

I am very, sorry. I hope I did not cause any ill feelings on your part.

[pandis1993]

Sick, disgusting music...

[Clittl15]

Is it that difficult to listen to for you?

[Flatliner0452]

so? this isn't realy my cup of tea, but ignorant staments about music just make me so angry.

[Mattspaiser]

You are all idiots. This is fantastic music.

[Mattspaiser]

And yes. I am serious.

[bebepanales5]

i like the lyrics more

[Gastoxique]

@Mattspaiser It's ok they will keep listening to late romantic music until they realize how stale it has become