Milton Babbitt

And I'm STILL listening to all that inaccessible avantgarde crap.

Milton Babbitt (born 1916 and still alive) is American, and is noted for his uncompromising 12-tone compositions. After WWII it was mostly European composers like Stockhausen and Boulez who followed on from the 12-tone compositions of Schoenberg and Webern, but Babbitt is an example of an American doing the same.

Now I'm still not 100% sure I actually 'get' 12-tone compositions - to some degree they sound almost random to my untrained ear, because they're too complex for me to grasp the patterns. But I kinda like that, I find it comforting and relaxing. And I think the subconscious me may be able to spot the patterns in there, because part of me find the compositions very beautiful and fascinating.

There's some good Babbitt stuff on Youtube.

"Correspondences" for string orchestra and synthesized tape:



"Composition for guitar":



"All Set" for Jazz Ensemble (1957)