In the late 80's Milton was the only man of importance who would see me, well see me more than once. We had dinner many times. (Asian) I'm afraid, after all, his attempts to help boost my career were for naught.
Anyway.
Those dinner were memorable. One story Milton told about Ralph Shapey was the time Ralph tried to apply to Princeton for a degree in composition order to get considered for a University position (Ralph only had a HS diploma). Roger Sessions had to talk him out of it. Saying that Ralph had important music to compose instead. Anyway he had more important things to do. They were right. It wasn't long before Ralph got his gig at the U of Chicago, first as a conductor than as a composition teacher. I think he also meant this as advice for self.
But the thing I cherish the most is that Milton never played the brilliant man with me. We were just two composers having dinner together.
Phil Fried
PS
He respected my work on his Third Quartet, which signaled the end of my career as a theorist. "They just don't get it"
Partially published here -- Log in as a guest:
http://www.philfried.com/compositionlessons/course/view.php?id=3
This was going to be published in Sonus but with some timely bad advice from some important theorists that didn't happen either.
Anyway.
Those dinner were memorable. One story Milton told about Ralph Shapey was the time Ralph tried to apply to Princeton for a degree in composition order to get considered for a University position (Ralph only had a HS diploma). Roger Sessions had to talk him out of it. Saying that Ralph had important music to compose instead. Anyway he had more important things to do. They were right. It wasn't long before Ralph got his gig at the U of Chicago, first as a conductor than as a composition teacher. I think he also meant this as advice for self.
But the thing I cherish the most is that Milton never played the brilliant man with me. We were just two composers having dinner together.
Phil Fried
PS
He respected my work on his Third Quartet, which signaled the end of my career as a theorist. "They just don't get it"
Partially published here -- Log in as a guest:
http://www.philfried.com/compositionlessons/course/view.php?id=3
Velocity and Metric Class as Formal Determinants in Milton Babbitt's Third String Quartet
This was going to be published in Sonus but with some timely bad advice from some important theorists that didn't happen either.
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