Babbitt - Accompanied Recitative
This brief soprano and piano excursion from the grand American serialist is uncompromising in melodic content with the directionless panic that characterises so many of Babbitt's works. The quirky titles are often more memorable than the content itself, which takes perhaps a dozen hearings to sink in. Perhaps the best course of action is to accept the overall impression of the piece and enjoy the beauty of the instruments' tone. The way so many cards are played within a couple of bars doesn't permit average ears to latch on to much. This work sits well with the Denisov Sonata and if nothing else provides a crystal clear serialist manifesto. If you find this music impenetrable, you are not alone, but there is plenty to appreciate if you persist and allow every moment to exist in its own transient beauty. There is no obvious introduction or conclusion, but then it is a recitative. Information there is aplenty, and if it connected actual arias we might well feel differently.