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

• The Moon
  Song for soprano and piano on a poem by Shelley

  • Score 

  • MIDI performance with wordless voice
     

• The Miscarriage of Spring
  Song for soprano and piano on a poem by Rochelle Kauffman 

  • ​Score

  • MIDI performance with wordless voice
     

• Go and Catch a Falling Star
  Vocalise for chorus on a poem by John Donne

  • ​Score

  • MIDI performance with wordless chorus
     

• Music for Orchestra

  • ​Score

  • MIDI performance
     

• The Song of the Shirt
  Music for a poem by Thomas Hood, for small orchestra

  • ​Score

  • MIDI performance
     

 

AT BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY

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1954-55

• Concerto Grosso I: Sinfonia
  For string orchestra

  • ​Score

  • MIDI performance
     

• Concerto Grosso II: Nocturne 
  For string orchestra

  • ​Score 

  • MIDI performance

  • Boston Chamber Orchestra, Alfred Shardl, Conductor. Kresge Auditorium, MIT, Spring 1956
     

• Partita
  For piano (Prelude, Gavotte, Allemande, Capriccio)

  • ​Score

  • MIDI performance

  • Ann Besser, piano, Brandeis University, 1955

  • Keith Eisenbrey, piano, Seattle, WA, 2017

  • Michael Fowler, piano recital, Cincinnati Conservatory,  March 2002

 

1955-56

• Rilke: A Sonnet to Orpheus 
  Chamber song on a text by Rainer Maria Rilke for mezzo soprano, flute and two cellos

  • ​Score

  • MIDI performance with wordless voice 
     

• First Donne
  Holy Sonnet of John Donne for soprano and piano

  • ​Score

  • MIDI performance with wordless voice

  • 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
     

• Divertimento
  For chamble ensemble: flute, bassoon, violin, viola, cello

  • ​Score

  • MIDI performance

  • Boston Symphony Chamber Ensemble at Brandeis, 1956: Anton Winkler, flute; ??, bassoon; Robert Brink, violin; Elephtheros Elephtherakis, viola; Dorothea Jump, cello

 

 

AT ASPEN MUSIC SCHOOL

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SUMMER 1956

• Violin Concerto (first movement)
  For solo violin and orchestra

  • ​Score

  • Stanley Hoffman, solo violin; Aspen Festival Orchestra, David Epstein, Conductor 

 

 

AT BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY

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1956-57

• Violin Concerto (movements I, II and III)
  For solo violin and orchestra

  • ​Score 

  • Charles Castleman, solo violin; Eastman Composers' Orchestra, Geoffrey Pope, Conductor. Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY, Spring 2010. Paul Coleman, audio. (Recorded and released as OSCD 27, 2020)
     

• Overture to a Cantata on Kenneth Patchen's Jezebel
  For clarinet, trumpet, piano, violin, viola 

  • ​Score

  • MIDI performance

 

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AT UCLA

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1957-589

• Two Musics for Lukas Foss
  For piano four hands

  • ​Score

  • MIDI performance
     

1958

• String quartet I (Overture), II (Intermezzo)

  • ​Score

  • Columbia Records Quartet: Stanley Hoffman, violin; ??, violin; ??, viola; Alex Reisman, cello. Stanford University Composers' Festival, spring 1958 (recording lost in NYC apartment theft, 1968) 

  • Composers' Quartet: Matthew Raimondi, violin; Anahid Ajemian, violin; Walter Trampler, viola; Seymour Barab, cello. Princeton University, 1960

  • DAFO Quartet: Justina Duda, violin; Danuta Augusty, Violin; Aneta Dumanowska, viola; Anna Armatys, cello; Malgorzata Polanska, Tonmeister, Krakow-Warsaw, 2006. Recorded for Open Space (with Postlude) at Polish National Radio Studio, Warsaw, and released as OSCD 23

 

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AT PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

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1959-60

• Two Holy Sonnets by John Donne
  For soprano and piano

  • ​Score (original document)

  • MIDI performance (with First Donne and Donne III)

  • 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

 

 

IN NEW YORK CITY, 1961-71

 

1964-67

• Group Variations I
  For chamber orchestra
  For Group for Contemporary Music, Columbia University

  • Score​

  • Group for Contemporary Music, Charles Wuorinen, Conductor. McMillan Theater, Columbia University, October 1967

  • Group for Contemporary Music, Charles Wuorinen, Conductor. Fromm Foundation concert, Town Hall, New York City, spring 1968. Released by Open Space on OSCD 33, 2015

  • 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

• 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)

  • Score

  • Concert of Group for Contemporary Music, Columbia University, McMillan Theater, New York City, autumn 1973

  • International Society for Computer Music annual festival, New England Conservatory of Music, 1974; recorded and released on CRI LP by Composers' Recordings Inc., 1974

  • 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

• Liebeslied, for a pianist alone

  • Score

  • BAB, MacDowell Colony, August 1974

  • Keith Eisenbrey, piano, Seattle, WA, 2006: 'Liebeslied, amended: a recomposition'

  • Michael Fowler, piano recital, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, March 2002

 

 

AT SYCAMORE DRIVE

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1977-78

• (“…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)

  • Joan Tower, piano, Carnegie Recital Hall, April 18, 1978 

  • Keith Johnston, piano, University of Washington, Seattle, April 18, 1978

  • Jeff Presslaff, piano recital, Princeton University, 1979

  • Keith Eisenbrey, piano, Seattle, WA, 2010

  • Sarah Rothenberg, piano, recorded at Bard College, released by Open Space on OSCD 1, 1989

  • Terrie Manno, piano, Moorhead State University, Moorhead, MN, April 1998

  • Terrie Manno, piano, Moorhead State University, Moorhead, MN, Spring 2001

  • Michael Fowler, piano recital, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, 2002

  • Michael Fowler, piano recital, Princeton University Taplin Hall, 2002

  • Michael Fowler, piano. Open Space recording of BAB piano music, OSCD 18, 2002

  • Michael Fowler, piano recital, Newcastle Conservatory of Music, Newcastle, Australia, 2004 – with music by Babbitt, Boretz, Randall

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1978

• Language  ,as a music
  For speaker and tape

  • Score 

  • Score (book), Lingua Press, 1979

  • BAB, Center for Music Experiment at UC San Diego, April 1980, released as OSCD 10

  • Jon Forshee, UC San Diego, 2014

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1979

• 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

  • Score

  • Jeff Presslaff, piano recital, Princeton University, 1980 – with music by BAB/JKR

  • Terrie Manno, piano concert, Moorhead State University, 1998

  • Terrie Manno, piano recital, Moorhead State University, 2002

  • Michael Fowler, piano. Open Space recording of BAB piano music, released on OSCD 18, 2002

  • Michael Fowler, piano recital, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, 2002

  • Michael Fowler, piano recital, Newcastle Conservatory of Music, Newcastle, Australia, 2004 – with music by Babbitt, BAB, JKR 

  • Keith Eisenbrey, piano, date unknown

 

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THE TIME OF THE INNER STUDIO AT SYCAMORE DRIVE (1979-2003)

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1980

• Talk: If I am a Musical Thinker
  For speaker​

  • Written and spoken for Texas Society for Music Theory meeting in Austin, TX, April 1980

  • Published as text piece with ink blot drawings by Naomi Boretz, layout by Bruce Huber and BAB; Station Hill Press, 1981 

  • Recomposed and performed in multimedia as '#DoyouseewhatIhear' at Tilde New Music Festival, Melbourne, Australia, 2016. Brigid Burke (visuals), Carmen Chan (cello, percussion), Llara Goodall (tape), Clinton Green (words), Gary Verkade (recorded voice)

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1979-2003

Piano solos

• The ONE Sessions (1985-1988)

  • ONETEXT

  • ONETEXT: COMMENTARY

  • TWOTEXT

  • TWOTEXT: COMMENTARY

  • THREETEXT

  • THREETEXT: COMMENTARY

  • FOURTEXT

  • FOURTEXT: COMMENTARY          

  • FIVETEXT  (1987) (OSCD 46)

  • SIXTEXT (1988)

  • Poem for SIXTEXT (1988)

• Lament for Sarah 
  9/3/90 on the death of Sarah Vaughan

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1987

• Invention
  For piano four hands

  • Score

  • Michael Fowler, piano – solo version recorded on OSCD 18

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1990

• I Say (OSCD 44)

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1991

• The Purposes and Politics of Engaging Strangers
  For speaker, players and prerecorded audio

  • BAB (speaker, live and recorded player and presenter); Mary Lee A. Roberts (live and recorded player). Visiting guest lecture, Willamette University, Salem, OR, with introduction by Professor of Music John Peel, 1991. Released on OSCD 6

  • BAB with Mary Lee A. Roberts at colloquium, University of Washington, Seattle, 1992

  • BAB with Bard College Composers' Ensemble, Wellesley College Composers' Forum, 1992

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1992

• Group Variations II
  For computer 

  • Resampled at Princeton University Computer Center by Paul Lansky, 1992; recorded by Open Space and released on OSCD 5

 

1994

• music/consciousness/gender
  Text/sound/video performance piece for speaker, audiotape and video –video composed with Noel Bush, 1994

  • Video version: Open Space DVD 1

  • Audio version: BAB, recorded for Open Space by Mary Lee A. Roberts at Moorhead State University, 1995 and released on OS CD 49

  • Score published in Audible Traces, edited by Lydia Hamessley and Elaine Barkin

  • Also in Being About Music 

  • BAB at Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY, 1995

  • BAB at Princeton University Composers' Forum, 1995

  • BAB at Moorhead State University music department colloquium, 199

  • BAB at University of California, Riverside, 1995

  • BAB at UCLA Schoenberg Hall, 1995

  • BAB at University of Washington, Seattle, WA 1995

  • BAB at UC Santa Cruz, 2000

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1997

• Echoic /Anechoic
  For piano

  • BAB, piano, Sycamore Drive, 1997. Released on OSCD 33, 2014

 

1998

• Black /Noise I
  Electronically processed piano (Echoic /Anechoic)

  • BAB, piano, 1998. Released on OSCD 19
    ​​

• Black /Noise II
  Audio for a video piece 

  • BAB, voice (text: Deleuze & Guattari's 1000 Plateaux) with electronically processed piano, 1998
    ​

• Black /Noise III
  Video piece with text and audio

  • BAB, voice (text: Deleuze & Guattari's 1000 Plateaux) with electronically processed piano, instruments and voices plus video images from books and domestic events and objects, 1998

  • Released on OS DVD 1

 

1999

•  Un(-) 
  For orchestra

  • Score

  • MIDI performance, released on OSCD 11

  • Woodstock Chamber Orchestra, Luis Garcia-Renart, Conductor – six concerts in 1999

  • La Jolla Symphony, Harvey Sollberger, Conductor. UC San Diego, April 2003. Recorded by Open Space, released on OSCD 19

  • A C A Chamber Orchestra, Max Lifchitz, Conductor, New York, 2001

  • Olympia Chamber Orchestra, Evergreen State College, Arun Chandra, Conductor, 2002 
     

2000

• O
  For piano, for Terrie Manno

  • Score

  • Terrie Manno, piano recital, Moorhead State University, April 2001

  • Michael Fowler, piano, OSCD 18 (BAB piano music), 2002

  • Michael Fowler, piano recital, Cincinnati Conservatory, 2002

  • Variations on O by other composers, recorded by Open Space and released on OSCD 33: 

    • J. K. Randall: BAB-O for MIDI (2003)

    • Robert Morris: ODE for piano (2014) ​

 

2001

• I/O
  For two speakers 

  • Score (Published as a text in The Open Space Magazine and Being About Music, p.505)

  • BAB, solo version, SEAMUS conference, Baton Rouge, LA  (2001) 

  • BAB with Karen Eisenbrey, Seattle, WA (2002) 

  • BAB with Mara Helmuth, CCM Cincinnati Composers' Forum (2002) 

  • BAB with Tildy Bayar, Princeton University Composers' Forum (2002)

  • BAB with Mary Lee A. Roberts, UC San Diego Critical Studies and Experimental Practices Forum (2004)

  • Jean-Charles François, French version, online at Paalabres (2019)

  • Doroto Czerner, solo version, recorded 2021 for Open Space

 

2002

• Ainu 1 and Ainu 2
  For piano, for George Quasha at 60 (2002)

  • BAB, piano, released on OSCD 47

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2004

• Poppies ​

  • 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

  • Projected at PAFME (Polish American Festival of Electronic Music), Krakow Conservatory of Music, December 2006

  • Released  on OSDVD 1
     

• Postlude, With Jim Randall in Mind
  For string quartet

  • Score (Movement III of 1958 String Quartet)

  • MIDI performance on Open Space OSCD 21 (Music for Jim Randall at 75 by His Friends; Music by Jim Randall for His Friends), 2005

  • Instrumental performance recorded for Open Space by DAFO Quartet (2006) at Polish National Radio Studio in Warsaw; Malgorzata Polanska, Tonmeister; released on OSCD 23

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2005

• Downtime
  For solo piano and (electronic) percussion ensemble

  • Score

  • Electronic performance in Music Around Benjamin Boretz at 70 (Perspectives of New Music, includes Open Space OSCD 20)

  • Piotr Grodetzky, piano; Marek Cholonewski, board (PAFME Festival, Krakow Conservatory). Video recording from concert, 2008

  • Michael Fowler, piano. Sydney, Australia Opera House Electronics concert, 2009

  • Ian Pace, piano; Russell Craig Richardson, video; Eric Lyon, board. BAB concert, Queens University Belfast, May 2012

  • 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

  • Ian Pace, piano; Newton Armstrong, board. Concert at London City College, 2013

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2009

• Caves
  Poem by Dorota Czerner with electronic sound by BAB

  • Dorota Czerner, voice; BAB, electronic sound. Recorded on OSCD 24

 

2011

• St. Andrews Night
  Poem by Dorota Czerner with electronic sound by BAB

  • Dorota Czerner, voice; BAB, electronic sound. Recorded on OSCD 29
     

• Fireflies
  ​Poem by Dorota Czerner with electronic sound by BAB

  • Dorota Czerner, voice; BAB, electronic sound. Recorded on OSCD 29
     

• The Memory of All That
  A Holy Sonnet of John Donne for Mezzo-soprano and Piano in Memory of Milton Babbitt (2011)

  • Score

  • Eastman students at colloquium, Eastman School of Music, 2012

  • 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

  • Sascia Pellegrini, vibraphone with MIDI piano, 2017, released on OSCD 35
     

2012

• With Respect to George (A Postcard for George Quasha At 70) 

  • Score 

  • MIDI performance

  • Sascia Pellegrini, vibraphone, released on OSCD 35
     

• Qixingshan
  For string quartet

  • Score

  • Momenta Quartet concert, Eastman School of Music, 2014

  • Momenta Quartet, Open Space recording session, Eastman School of Music 2014, released on OSCD 32

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2013/14

• “The sun poured molten glass on the fields”
  For piano (for Bob Morris at 70)

  • Score

  • MIDI piano on Perspectives of New Music/Open Space CD album for Robert Morris at 70, 2014

  • MIDI piano on Open Space OSCD 33, 2016

  • Stephen Gosling, piano concert, NYU, 2016

  • Andrew Zhou, piano, 2018. Released on OSCD 40

 

2015

• Fantasy on an Improvisation by Jim Randall
  For banjo, mandolin, alto flute, English horn, violin, cello 
  For the Cygnus Ensemble

  • Score

  • Cygnus Ensemble (Bill Anderson, banjo; Oren Fader, mandolin; (?) alto flute, English horn, violin, cello. Concert, Leonard Nimoy Theater, New York City, 2015. Video by Russell Craig Richardson. 

  • Open Space Composers' Ensemble: Hilary Hawke, banjo; Joseph Brent, mandolin; T.J. Wibble, alto flute; Zachary Boeding, English horn; Scot Moore, violin; Eleanor Lee, cello. Released on OSCD 40, 2016

 

2017

• One on One
  For a clarinet alone​, in memory of S. Kelly Avants

  • Score​​

  • Hideo Kikuchi, clarinet, released on OSCD 39
     

• Looking
  Video/sound piece​

  • Video by Linda Cassidy with sound by BAB

  • MIDI ensemble music released on OSCD 44, 2020

 

2018

• A Question, A Rose
  For John Rahn, for violin alone

  • Score

  • Scot Moore, violin. Open Space recording session, 2019, Ian Turner, sound engineer. Released on OSCD 42

  • Olivia di Prato, violin, Octaven Recording Studio, Mount Vernon, NY, 2020. On  Perspectives of New Music  YouTube channel

  • Pauline Kim Harris, recording session, New York City, 2020

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2020-22

• A viola piece for Elaine Barkin (unfinished)

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