Milton Babbitt: Philomel
Milton Babbitt is one of the first major U.S.-born academic composers,  and he helped found the enormously influential Electronic Music Center of  Columbia-Princeton Universities. His 1964 piece,Philomel, is a pivotal  work for Babbitt--and for avant-garde New Music. It combines Bethany Beardslee's  wavering, halting soprano with ample helpings of synthesized electronics.  Blipping emanations dot Beardslee's vocal testament, and Babbitt explores an  astonishing range of what electronics can do, either in duet with a voice or in  solo contexts. Rounding out this collection are equally key pieces examining  ways that piano can interact with voice and synthesized tape, as well as pieces  that further push the envelope on the soprano voice.--Andrew Bartlett