Portrait of a Serial Composer

At long last, Robert Hilferty's film Babbitt: Portrait of a Serial Composer, a documentary about the late Milton Babbitt, is out in the world. NPR is hosting the video; Laura Karpman did the work of completing it. Robert, a longtime friend of so many of us who wrote about music in New York, died tragically in 2009. He worked on his film for fifteen years; I saw the opening portion — in which Robert accosts people outside the old Lincoln Center Tower Records and asks them if they know Babbitt's music — back in 1999. (I remember more questions from the woman with asymmetrical sunglasses: "Is he signed? Is he a signed artist?") It's not perfect, but it's a heartfelt and deeply revealing piece of work. Babbitt got to see the finished version last fall, and sent Laura a three-word e-mail: "I love you."