Milton Babbitt Memorial Broadcast 2/1/10

Due to the passing of American composer Milton Babbitt, the New Music and Classical Departments of WKCR will honor the experimental composer's life by dedicating 24 hours of air time to playing his work. Tune in from 1AM Tuesday, February 1 to 1Am Wednesday, February 2 to hear his music and only his music. Milton Babbitt was known for his complex orchestral compositions and credited with developing the first electronic synthesizer in the 1950s and founding the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. Of all the composers who have fallen between the boundaries of classical and new music, Milton Babbitt was surely one of the most venerated. Milton Babbitt was an archetype of the impenetrable creator of music that audiences do not expect to hear elsewhere and never expect to like. Having been accredited with the extension of Schoenberg’s 12-tone system, his music was staggeringly complex yet lucid, jazzy and occasionally humorous. Under his direction, the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center was the first organization in the United States devoted to composition and research in the field.