ABSTRACT
Some years ago, as I was finishing the manuscript of a book on the music of Milton Babbitt, he sent me the opening pages of a new piece for seven instruments. My heart leaped as I read through them, both because the music itself was dazzling and because the implications of what he was up to in this work promised still another major development in his oeuvre. I must admit to a certain amount of chagrin as well, as I knew that the story I had begun to unfold in my recently completed text was just then promising to take a turn in a very exciting direction. That promise has been richly fulfilled, and the works of recent years contain some of Babbitt’s most beautiful and elaborate music.
