COMPOSITIONS AND THEIR PERFORMANCES
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Ben writes:
"I was born (1934 in Brooklyn) at a time when no sentient person could separate personal preoccupations from the social and political urgencies of the time. That consciousness has inflected all my work as composer and writer, and undoubtedly underlies my activity as an instigator of projects such as the publication Perspectives of New Music, the creative cooperative called Open Space, and the learning program at Bard College called Music Program Zero. All the meta-musical writing I have done, from the book-length essay Meta-Variations to my decade as Music Critic for The Nation, and many text compositions and essays since then, have been spurred by this engagement with the implications of expressive personhood in the contemporary world. And partly as a consequence of this thinking, my music has never had any referentiality at all."
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EARLY WORKS
1953-54
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The Moon
Song for soprano and piano on a poem by Shelley -
The Miscarriage of Spring
Song for soprano and piano on a poem by Rochelle Kauffman -
Go and Catch a Falling Star
Vocalise for chorus on a poem by John Donne -
Music for Orchestra
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The Song of the Shirt
Music for a poem by Thomas Hood, for small orchestra
AT BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY
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1954-55
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Concerto Grosso I: Sinfonia
For string orchestra -
Concerto Grosso II: Nocturne
For string orchestra-
Boston Chamber Orchestra, Alfred Shardl, Conductor. Kresge Auditorium, MIT, Spring 1956
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Partita
For piano (Prelude, Gavotte, Allemande, Capriccio)
1955-56
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Rilke: A Sonnet to Orpheus
Chamber song on a text by Rainer Maria Rilke for mezzo soprano, flute and two cellos -
First Donne
Holy Sonnet of John Donne for soprano and piano-
​Score
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As first movement of a suite in four movements for vibraphone and MIDI piano; Sascia Pellegrini, vibraphone. Recorded and released by Open Space as OSCD 35
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Divertimento
For chamble ensemble: flute, bassoon, violin, viola, cello-
​Score
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Boston Symphony Chamber Ensemble at Brandeis, 1956: Anton Winkler, flute; ??, bassoon; Robert Brink, violin; Elephtheros Elephtherakis, viola; Dorothea Jump, cello
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AT ASPEN MUSIC SCHOOL
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SUMMER 1956
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Violin Concerto (first movement)
For solo violin and orchestra-
​Score
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Stanley Hoffman, solo violin; Aspen Festival Orchestra, David Epstein, Conductor
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AT BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY
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1956-57
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Violin Concerto (movements I, II and III)
For solo violin and orchestra -
Overture to a Cantata on Kenneth Patchen's Jezebel
For clarinet, trumpet, piano, violin, viola
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AT UCLA
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1957-589
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Two Musics for Lukas Foss
For piano four hands
1958
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String quartet I (Overture), II (Intermezzo)
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Columbia Records Quartet: Stanley Hoffman, violin; ??, violin; ??, viola; Alex Reisman, cello. Stanford University Composers' Festival, spring 1958 (recording lost in NYC apartment theft, 1968)
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AT PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
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1959-60
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Two Holy Sonnets by John Donne
For soprano and piano-
​Score (original document)
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As second and third movement of a suite in four movements for vibraphone and MIDI piano; Sascia Pellegrini, vibraphone; recorded and released by Open Space as OSCD 35
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IN NEW YORK CITY, 1961-71
1964-67
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Group Variations I
For chamber orchestra
For Group for Contemporary Music, Columbia University-
Group for Contemporary Music, Charles Wuorinen, Conductor. McMillan Theater, Columbia University, October 1967
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2006: Video performance by Russell Craig Richardson, recorded and released by Open Space, OS DVD 1
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IN LONDON, UK; NEW YORK CITY; PRINCETON UNIVERSITY AND BARD COLLEGE
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1972-73
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Group Variations II
For computer, realized at the Princeton University Computer Center on the IBM 360 computer using Barry Vercoe's Music 360 revision of the Music AV program written by Godfrey Winham and Hubert S. Howe (1968-1973)-
Concert of Group for Contemporary Music, Columbia University, McMillan Theater, New York City, autumn 1973
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Video composition/performance by Russell Craig Richardson, 2004, recorded by Open Space on OS DVD 1
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AT MACDOWELL ARTISTS’ COLONY, PETERBOROUGH, NH
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SUMMER 1974
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Liebeslied, for a pianist alone
AT SYCAMORE DRIVE
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1977-78
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(“…my chart shines high where the blue milk’s upset…”)
For piano, for Milton Babbitt at 60-
Score (Lingua Press, 1980, with J. K. Randall: “…such words as it were vain to close…” for piano)
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Joan Tower, piano, Carnegie Recital Hall, April 18, 1978
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Keith Johnston, piano, University of Washington, Seattle, April 18, 1978
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Jeff Presslaff, piano recital, Princeton University, 1979
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Sarah Rothenberg, piano, recorded at Bard College, released by Open Space on OSCD 1, 1989
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Terrie Manno, piano, Moorhead State University, Moorhead, MN, April 1998
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Terrie Manno, piano, Moorhead State University, Moorhead, MN, Spring 2001
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Michael Fowler, piano recital, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, 2002
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Michael Fowler, piano recital, Princeton University Taplin Hall, 2002
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Michael Fowler, piano. Open Space recording of BAB piano music, OSCD 18, 2002
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Michael Fowler, piano recital, Newcastle Conservatory of Music, Newcastle, Australia, 2004 – with music by Babbitt, Boretz, Randall
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1978
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Language ,as a music
For speaker and tape-
Score
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BAB, Center for Music Experiment at UC San Diego, April 1980, released as OSCD 10
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Jon Forshee, UC San Diego, 2014
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1979
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A Passage, for Roger Sessions at 80 (…What I could hear, trying to crawl out from between the lines of your last ferocious sonata...)
For piano-
Jeff Presslaff, piano recital, Princeton University, 1980 – with music by BAB/JKR
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Terrie Manno, piano concert, Moorhead State University, 1998
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Terrie Manno, piano recital, Moorhead State University, 2002
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Michael Fowler, piano. Open Space recording of BAB piano music, released on OSCD 18, 2002
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Michael Fowler, piano recital, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, 2002
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Michael Fowler, piano recital, Newcastle Conservatory of Music, Newcastle, Australia, 2004 – with music by Babbitt, BAB, JKR
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THE TIME OF THE INNER STUDIO AT SYCAMORE DRIVE (1979-2003)
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1980
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Talk: If I am a Musical Thinker
For speaker​-
Written and spoken for Texas Society for Music Theory meeting in Austin, TX, April 1980
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1979-2003
Piano solos
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The ONE Sessions (1985-1988)
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Lament for Sarah
9/3/90 on the death of Sarah Vaughan
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1987
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Invention
For piano four hands-
Michael Fowler, piano – solo version recorded on OSCD 18
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1990
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1991
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The Purposes and Politics of Engaging Strangers
For speaker, players and prerecorded audio
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1992
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Group Variations II
For computer
1994
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music/consciousness/gender
Text/sound/video performance piece for speaker, audiotape and video –video composed with Noel Bush, 1994-
Score published in Audible Traces, edited by Lydia Hamessley and Elaine Barkin
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Also in Being About Music
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BAB at Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY, 1995
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BAB at Princeton University Composers' Forum, 1995
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BAB at Moorhead State University music department colloquium, 199
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BAB at University of California, Riverside, 1995
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BAB at UCLA Schoenberg Hall, 1995
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BAB at University of Washington, Seattle, WA 1995
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BAB at UC Santa Cruz, 2000
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1997
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Echoic /Anechoic
For piano
1998
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Black /Noise I
Electronically processed piano (Echoic /Anechoic) -
Black /Noise II
Audio for a video piece -
Black /Noise III
Video piece with text and audio
1999
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Un(-)
For orchestra-
Woodstock Chamber Orchestra, Luis Garcia-Renart, Conductor – six concerts in 1999
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A C A Chamber Orchestra, Max Lifchitz, Conductor, New York, 2001
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Olympia Chamber Orchestra, Evergreen State College, Arun Chandra, Conductor, 2002
2000
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O
For piano, for Terrie Manno-
Terrie Manno, piano recital, Moorhead State University, April 2001
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Michael Fowler, piano recital, Cincinnati Conservatory, 2002
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Variations on O by other composers, recorded by Open Space and released on OSCD 33:
2001
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I/O
For two speakers-
Score (Published as a text in The Open Space Magazine and Being About Music, p.505)
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BAB, solo version, SEAMUS conference, Baton Rouge, LA (2001)
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BAB with Karen Eisenbrey, Seattle, WA (2002)
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BAB with Mara Helmuth, CCM Cincinnati Composers' Forum (2002)
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BAB with Tildy Bayar, Princeton University Composers' Forum (2002)
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BAB with Mary Lee A. Roberts, UC San Diego Critical Studies and Experimental Practices Forum (2004)
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Jean-Charles François, French version, online at Paalabres (2019)
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Doroto Czerner, solo version, recorded 2021 for Open Space
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2002
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Ainu 1 and Ainu 2
For piano, for George Quasha at 60 (2002)
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2004
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Poppies ​
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Video by Russell Craig Richardson with Dorota Czerner reading her text; sound by BAB derived from (“…my chart shines high where the blue milk's upset…”) performed by Sarah Rothenberg
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Projected at PAFME (Polish American Festival of Electronic Music), Krakow Conservatory of Music, December 2006
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Postlude, With Jim Randall in Mind
For string quartet
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2005
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Downtime
For solo piano and (electronic) percussion ensemble-
Piotr Grodetzky, piano; Marek Cholonewski, board (PAFME Festival, Krakow Conservatory). Video recording from concert, 2008
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Michael Fowler, piano. Sydney, Australia Opera House Electronics concert, 2009
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Ian Pace, piano; Newton Armstrong, board and audio engineer. London, UK, 2013. Released on OSCD 31 and Open Space DVD1 with video by Russell Craig Richardson
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Ian Pace, piano; Newton Armstrong, board. Concert at London City College, 2013
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2009
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Caves
Poem by Dorota Czerner with electronic sound by BAB
2011
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St. Andrews Night
Poem by Dorota Czerner with electronic sound by BAB -
Fireflies
​Poem by Dorota Czerner with electronic sound by BAB -
The Memory of All That
A Holy Sonnet of John Donne for Mezzo-soprano and Piano in Memory of Milton Babbitt (2011)-
Eastman students at colloquium, Eastman School of Music, 2012
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Megan Berti, mezzo-soprano; Zuzanna Szevzyk, piano; Paul Coleman, engineer. Eastman School of Music 2012; on OSCD 31; also on Perspectives of New Music/Open Space CD album Milton Babbitt: A Composers' Memorial, 2012
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Sascia Pellegrini, vibraphone with MIDI piano, 2017, released on OSCD 35
2012
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With Respect to George (A Postcard for George Quasha At 70)
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Qixingshan
For string quartet
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2013/14
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“The sun poured molten glass on the fields”
For piano (for Bob Morris at 70)-
MIDI piano on Perspectives of New Music/Open Space CD album for Robert Morris at 70, 2014
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Stephen Gosling, piano concert, NYU, 2016
2015
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Fantasy on an Improvisation by Jim Randall
For banjo, mandolin, alto flute, English horn, violin, cello
For the Cygnus Ensemble
2017
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One on One
For a clarinet alone​, in memory of S. Kelly Avants -
Looking
Video/sound piece​
2018
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A Question, A Rose
For John Rahn, for violin alone-
Scot Moore, violin. Open Space recording session, 2019, Ian Turner, sound engineer. Released on OSCD 42
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Pauline Kim Harris, recording session, New York City, 2020
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2020-22
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A viola piece for Elaine Barkin (unfinished)
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