Premiere Recording of Milton Babbitt’s Complete Works for High Voice and Piano Featuring Soprano Nina Berman and Pianist Steve Beck

Available October 28 via New Focus Recordings

NEW YORK, NY (For Release 10.28.22) — Two of today’s leading performers in the contemporary concert arena, soprano Nina Berman and pianist Steve Beck, today announced the release of their debut duo recording Milton Babbitt: Works for Treble Voice and Piano. This collection of 10 vocal compositions by the extraordinarily influential American composer Milton Babbitt is a complete survey of Babbitt’s work for high voice and piano. The disc chronicles more than 50 years of Babbitt’s text-setting in every decade of his creative life spanning 1950 to 2002. Berman and Beck’s performances are beautifully expressive, illuminating the longer lined lyricism that is revealed through precise renderings of Babbitt’s often thorny, virtuosic scores.

Celebrating a decade-long musical partnership, Milton Babbitt marks the pair’s debut recording. Initially drawn to Babbitt as listeners, both artists found great reward in seeking balance between the contradictions of his work — emotionally removed yet full of pathos; precisely notated yet swinging; disjointed melodic lines yet still lyrical. “Babbitt’s music is full of liveliness and varied expression, and working through his catalogue as both a listener and performer has been eye-opening for both of us,” says Berman. “Steve and I hope to illustrate that Babbitt’s music overspills with heart not in spite of its complexity but as a result of it.”

Regarded as the dean of serial composers and a pioneer in electronic music, Milton Babbitt is a major figurehead of 20th century American music. Winner of a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation for his “life’s works as a distinguished and seminal American composer,” Babbitt’s influence on contemporary music is inestimable. Much less heralded is his deep engagement with poetry and subsequent vocal writing. His text settings demonstrate his sensitivity to the intricacies of the musicality embedded in the poems. “We have always appreciated Babbitt’s deep respect for poetry and literature,” says Berman. “The texts he chooses to set are full of nuance and richness, much in the way of Babbitt’s music. One of my hopes is that listeners will come away feeling not only that his music elevates the texts, but that the richness of the texts equally elevates his compositional style.”

Set to writings by poets John Hollander, John Dryden, August Stramm, William Carlos Williams and Shakespeare to name a few, the tracks range from Babbitt’s first published song The Widow’s Lament in Springtime (1950) to the composer’s final work for voice and piano Now Evening after Evening (2002). It also includes Babbitt’s epic A Solo Requiem written as a memorial for Godfrey Winham, a young student of Babbitt’s and the husband of soprano Bethany Beardslee, who premiered the work. In the Requiem, composed for soprano and two pianos, Beck is joined by New York Philharmonic pianist Eric Huebner.         

About Nina Berman

Soprano Nina Berman has performed in a variety of settings, from vocal improvisation to opera, with a particular focus on chamber music and art song. She has given numerous premieres, and has done live radio performances on WQXR, WNBC, and WHTZ. Additionally, Dr. Berman has focused on both early music and standard concert repertoire, singing in concert and on the opera stage throughout the US and Canada, and as a chorister with The Bard Festival Chorale, the St. Bartholomew’s Choir, and Bard SummerScape. She is active in New York, having performed as soloist and chamber musician at the city’s major venues, including Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall, Alice Tully Hall, B.B. King’s Blues Club, The Iridium, New York City’s Town Hall, Brooklyn’s Roulette, The Cutting Room, and SubCulture, as well as in numerous tristate area concert series, most often in collaboration with pianist Steve Beck. Dr. Berman also sings as member of Andrew McKenna Lee’s neo-psychedelic ensemble The Knells, whose recordings have been lauded by The New York Times, Washington Post, and The New Yorker. She holds a Bachelors and Masters of Music from the Manhattan School of Music, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the CUNY Graduate Center. 

About Steve Beck

A recent New York concert by pianist Steve Beck was described as “exemplary” and “deeply satisfying” by The New York Times. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where his teachers were Seymour Lipkin, Peter Serkin and Bruce Brubaker. Mr. Beck made his concerto debut with the National Symphony Orchestra, and has toured Japan as soloist with the New York Symphonic Ensemble. His annual Christmas Eve performance of Bach’s Goldberg Variations at Bargemusic has become a New York institution. He has also performed as soloist and chamber musician at Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Library of Congress, Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall, and Miller Theater, as well as on WNYC; summer appearances have been at the Aspen Music Festival and Lincoln Center Out of Doors. He has performed as a musician with the New York City Ballet and the Mark Morris Dance Group, and as an orchestral musician he has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, the New York City Ballet Orchestra, and Orpheus. Mr. Beck is an experienced performer of new music, having worked with Elliott Carter, Pierre Boulez, Henri Dutilleux, Charles Wuorinen, George Crumb, George Perle, and Fred Lerdahl. He is a member of The Knights, the Talea Ensemble, Quattro Mani, and the Da Capo Chamber Players. His discography includes George Walker’s piano sonatas for Bridge Records, and Elliott Carter’s “Double Concerto” on Albany Records. He is a Steinway Artist.

Milton Babbitt: Works for Treble Voice and Piano

Composer: Milton Babbitt (1916-2011)

Label: New Focus Recordings

Release Date: October 28, 2022

TRT: 55:22

Works: 1. The Widow’s Lament in Springtime (1951), 2-8. Du (1951), 9. Sounds and Words (1960), Phonemena [with piano] (1969), Phonemena [with tape] (1975), 12.-17. A Solo Requiem (1977), 18. In His Own Words (1988), 19. The Virginal Book (1988), 20. Pantun (2000) 21. Now Evening After Evening (2002)

Performers: Nina Berman (soprano), Steve Beck (piano),
Eric Huebner (piano)

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