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SMT-VThe Videocast Journal of the Society of Music Theory Author: SMT-V
SMT-V is a peer-reviewed video journal showcasing original research in music theory. Language: en-us Genres: Music Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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SMT-V 5.3 Joshua Banks Mailman, "Babbitt’s Beguiling Surfaces, Improvised Inside; Part III: Opportunities"
Saturday, 23 March, 2019
Babbitt’s relatively early composition _Semi-Simple Variations_ (1956) presents intriguing surface patterns that are not determined by its pre-compositional plan, but rather result from subsequent “improvised” decisions that are strategic. This video (the third of a three-part video essay) considers Babbitt’s own conversational pronouncements (in radio interviews) together with some particulars of his life-long musical activities, that together suggest uncanny affiliations to jazz improvisation. As a result of Babbitt’s creative reconceptualizing of planning and spontaneity in music, his pre-compositional structures (partial orderings) fit in an unexpected way into (or reformulate) the ecosystem relating music composition to the physical means of its performance.
