Subotnick, Morton

Silver Apples of the Moon for Electronic Music Synthesizer
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Timeless music from the stone age of electronica
  • Big Fun In An Alien Soundscape
  • Inventive Electronics
  • Still Original after 30 Years
  • A unique and engaging voice from the pre-digital age.
 Silver Apples of the Moon for Electronic Music Synthesizer

Manufacturer: Wergo Germany
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

ElectronicElectronic | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music | Computer
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ASIN: B000025QZI
Release Date: 1994-06-14

Tracks:

  1. Silver Apples Of The Moon: Part A
  2. Silver Apples Of The Moon: Part B
  3. The Wild Bull: Part A
  4. The Wild Bull: Part B

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars Timeless music from the stone age of electronica.......2003-09-09

By notions of electronic music, this album is about as old as they come. And amazingly these pretty primitive sounds don't sound dated at all. How did Subotnick know to avoid the cliches that would plague most later synthesizer music? Maybe it's rather that most pop musicians -- who came to define synthesizer music -- didn't listen to atonal and arythmic bloops and bleeps, so they never picked up on these textures. Their loss. This music is still sparklingly original. Required listening.

5 out of 5 stars Big Fun In An Alien Soundscape.......2003-09-07

In an era when electronic music seems to have ossified into the making of formless, but nonetheless attractive, spacey atmospheres, or into industrial strength techno-monotony, it is refreshing to hear this computer-generated music from the 1960's when Morton Subotnick could create serious compositions. This pricey disc contains 2 half hour pieces, each originally released in the dark ages as a separate LP. They are quite distinct from each other, yet definitely arising from the same esthetic. Bleeps, hisses, blangs and moans? Yes. Odd, self-generating rhythmic structures from some other time dimension? Positively. Wonder, fear, tension and resolution? Absolutely. 'Silver Apples' and 'Wild Bull' are as strange, challenging, and hopefully, delightful, as any music you are ever likely to hear. Great stuff!

5 out of 5 stars Inventive Electronics.......2001-10-13

Wild sounds, strange timbres, heavy syncopated rhythms like jazz from another dimension: two of Subotnick's earliest works, composed when electronic music was still new and cliche-free. Anything but ambient, it demands your attention!

5 out of 5 stars Still Original after 30 Years.......2000-09-22

I remember being in the Electric Circus in NY during the late sixties or early seventies and having heard the wonderful music of Morton Subotnick. He had a number of speakers placed around the club and they throbbed with his pulsating electronic rhythms. This CD captures the essence of that music and has great historical significance in the chronology of electronic music. Unlike other composers Subotnick managed to create organic music from very inorganic synthetic timbres. Since he departed from the popular trend to use the Moog synthesizer and instead chose more esoteric ones developed by Donald Buchla I think he managed to achieve a completely fresh approach to electronic music composition.

In the early seventies there was a branch of synthesizer musicians who wanted the instrument to imitate the sound of natural acoustic instruments. Walter (Wendy) Carlos at that time was making significant impact with Switched on Bach and there was a flurry of other composers hopping on this particular band wagon. Subotnick, however, chose another path. Because of the nature of the Buchla synthesizers I think the blend of musical vision and instrumentation has never been more fully realized than in the recordings on this CD.

Electronic music has had the stigma of being gimmicky and its introduction into mainstream music was done with some awkwardness and a great deal of rejection. Most musicians and composers realized the potential but few knew exactly how to tame this new medium. Subotnick was one of a small handful who fortunately did understand the medium. In the compositions of Subotnick, the synthesizer is no longer a gimmick but a fully mature instrument that deftly underpins the power of his music. He uses the instrument to craft new tonalities, timbres and rhyhmic structures that probably would have intrigued Varese had he lived to hear them. The fact that the music itself is almost tribal adds interesting counterpoint and tension to such primitive energy being created via the means of high techology.

I owned both of these compositions when they were orginally introduced on vinyl by Nonesuch. Needless to say, I still have the originals but am very grateful to be able to listen to these wonderful compositions again without all the scratch noise. I highly recommend this CD to anyone interested in totally innovative music executed to a high state of perfection.

4 out of 5 stars A unique and engaging voice from the pre-digital age........1998-10-27

It borders on the cliché to refer to electronic music-especially that composed before the advent of digital synthesis and the all-pervasive Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI)-as bleep-bloop music. But, it cannot be denied, there was a lot of bleeping and blooping going on well into the 1970's. The academic world was awash in the jittering goings on at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in New York, and other such places, from which the likes of Charles Wuorinen's Pulitzer Prize winning Time's Encomium were produced. Don't get me wrong, a good bleep and the odd bloop now and again does a body good, but it is always a delight to discover composers such as Morton Subotnick who defy all clichés and head off into unknown territory. This 1994 release of two of Subotnick's earliest recorded compositions is, therefore, a rare treat. Oddly packaged as part of Wergo Music's Music with Computers series (no one had ever heard of Computer Music in 1967), are Silver Apples of the Moon, a composition originally commissioned and released by Nonesuch Records, and the mythically titled 1968 composition, The Wild Bull. Composed and recorded using the now rare, albeit famous, Buchla synthesizer (or Electric Music Box as its designer, Donald Buchla preferred to call it), these compositions display Subotnick's talent for creating a personalized electronic music that is at once challenging, haunting, kinetic, engaging, sad, contemplative and immanently engrossing. His music ranges from pensive to frantic in mood and even manages to swing a bit along the way (in Subotnick's inimitable style, of course). Those not prepared for Subotnick's unique voice may find these titles a bit dense, foreign even, but they are never overbearingly strident, even when they are engaged in the electronic music equivalent of hand-to-hand combat. Evoking simultaneously the Electronic Tonalities of Louis and Bebe Baron's unforgettable Forbidden Planet soundtrack from 1956, to the ancient wail of a Sumerian beast of mythology, one must not approach these recordings lightly. Do not expect any Switched on Bach doodlings here, Subotnick and the instrument he helped design were never ones for imitation or interpretation. This is the real deal (with a little bleeping and blooping thrown in for good measure!). The recording itself was digitally restored and remixed by Michael Hoenig, himself an electronic musician of the 1970's German school, ala Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream, and is crisp and clean. Missing, perhaps, is a touch of the warm mystery of the original vinyl pressings; however, these recordings are essentially faithful to the originals. Highly recommended for the musically adventurous.
Electronic Works, Vol. 1: Touch - A Sky of Cloudless Sulphur/Gestures
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Worth adding to "Silver Apples" and "Wild Bull"
 Electronic Works, Vol. 1: Touch - A Sky of Cloudless Sulphur/Gestures

Manufacturer: Mode
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

ComputerComputer | Electronic | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music
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  4. The Key to Songs/Return

ASIN: B00005A8HB
Release Date: 2001-04-24

Tracks:

  1. Touch: Part One
  2. Touch: Part Two
  3. A Sky Of Cloudless Sulphur: Opening
  4. A Sky Of Cloudless Sulphur: Dance
  5. Gestures 'It Begins With Colors'

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Worth adding to "Silver Apples" and "Wild Bull".......2003-05-07

There was a time when I first got a couple of CDs of Morton Subotnick's electronic music. One of them has the 2 early masterpieces "Silver Apples of the Moon" and "The Wild Bull." The other had "Touch" and "Jacob's Room." Both on the Wergo label. I've read how "Jacob's Room" stunk before I bought the CD. I was aware of that. I listened to it twice and agree that "Jacob's Room" stunk (is that why it's no longer in stock?). Later, however, I notice this Mode CD containing "Touch" and other electronic works that are NOT "Jacob's Room." It must've gotten on the market shortly after I bough the Wergo CD. So I sold the Wergo CD at an auction (more than what I paid for, and I didn't ask for much) and got this Mode CD when I had a chance. On it, there's "Touch", "A Sky of Cloudless Sulphur" and "Gestures: It Begins With Colors." If you like "Silver Apples" as well as "The Wild Bull" then you may wanna get this Mode CD. This is Volume 1 of his works. I wonder when there'll be volume two...

Oh yes, you may also wanna get the New Albion CD, "The Key To Songs / Return." Another worthy addition of Subotnick's electronic music.
The Key to Songs/Return
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Rockin' Subotnick?
  • Just buy it now!
 The Key to Songs/Return
Morton Subotnick
Manufacturer: New Albion Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000000R2A
Release Date: 1986-01-01

Tracks:

  1. The Key to Songs
  2. Return - a triumph of reason I
  3. Return - a triumph of reason II

Album Description

"The Key to Songs" is music for an imaginary ballet inspired by A Week of Kindness, or The Seven Deadly Elements, the 1933 novel in the form of a collage by the surrealist painter, Max Ernst. The 'novel' is wordless, being composed of dramatic and often erotic collages, using, principally, illustrations from French popular fiction. Each of the novel's seven chapters represents a day of the week and each day has a "deadly element" associated with it. Beginning with Sunday, the elements are: Mud, Water, Fire, Blood, Blackness, Sight and Unknown. A motto and a Dadaist or Surrealist epigraph prefaces each chapter, and the motto becomes an enigmatic visual motif. Subotnick's score - which calls for two pianos, three mallet instruments (marimba, xylophone and vibraphone) shared by two players, viola, cello and the Yamaha Computer Assisted Music System (YCAMS) - provides a musical counterpart to Ernst's enigmatic collage in several ways. The phantasmagorical ambiguity between reality and fantasy found in Ernst collages, and in the surreal groupings of images, has its equivalent in Subotnick's application of electronics.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Rockin' Subotnick?.......2001-03-01

This is exciting (and yes, even fun!) stuff from pioneering electronic composer Morton Subotnick. If you know him mainly from "Silver Apples of the Moon" days, you'll find his music has taken quite a new direction.

The "Key to Songs" is for synthesizers and live players on strings, pianos, and mallet instruments. The electronic parts and the "live" parts intermingle very convincingly, creating interesting layers of sound. The music itself tends toward traditional tonality, with vigorous pulsing rhythms throughout, interspersed with more dreamy "poems". The repetetive structures and tonal harmonies may bring to mind "minimalism", yet the degree of complexity and musical substance is certainly "maximal". It turns out that much of the melodic material is derived from a Schubert Song, which is quoted directly near the conclusion of the piece. Overall, very dynamic, appealing, and yes, nearly "rockin'" stuff from Morton. (Also check out the Max Ernst surrealistic collage book, "Une Semaine de Bonte", which Amazon carries... amazing!)

"Return" uses similar harmonic and rhythmic techniques, but is entirely electronic (and about twice the length: 40 minutes or so). It was written to commemorate the return of Halley's comet, and takes you on a time-travelling journey across the eons, from primordial sounds, to "dances of destruction", to medieval times, through Boroque, Classical, Romantic, and even Ragtime styles. Overall: engaging, exciting, and impressive. Check it out!

5 out of 5 stars Just buy it now!.......1999-01-19

The incomparable, uniquely overwhleming experience of Morton Subotnick's music never fails to stun the imagination.
Electronic Works, Vol. 2
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • His best work
  • Until Spring - An Electronic Masterpiece
  • Two masterpieces from an electronica legend
 Electronic Works, Vol. 2

Manufacturer: Mode
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General ModernGeneral Modern | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
ComputerComputer | Electronic | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music
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  5. Aerial #1

ASIN: B0001CCX66
Release Date: 2004-04-06

Tracks:

  1. Sidewinder: Side One
  2. Sidewinder: Side Two
  3. Until Spring: Side One
  4. Until Spring: Side Two

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars His best work.......2005-02-24

Although Silver Apples Of The Moon/The Wild Bull is a classic, Sidewinder/Until Spring is the best. It's more nuanced and subtle than Silver Apples and has a more fluid composition overall. After listening to Sidewinder/Until Spring, I'm left wondering what makes Autechre and Aphex Twin so special since the "IDM/glitch" thing they do is really not new at all. Composers like Subotnick(or Varese) take a much more conceptual and lyrical approach to their music, giving the pieces a life of their own, unlike IDM artists who just see how much they can degrade and resequence a sound file using Reaktor software. Believe me, there is a lyricism to true electronic music that most electronic artists today totally miss, and Subotnick hits it right on the dot!

5 out of 5 stars Until Spring - An Electronic Masterpiece.......2005-01-17

Until Spring is my favorite Subotnick composition. I bought it on LP many years ago and have long wanted it to be released on CD because the LP surface noise was very distracting during very quiet passages. Until Spring is filled with fascinating timbres, exciting rhythms, and great compositional ideas.

I don't care that much for Sidewinder, but the disk is worth it for Until Spring alone.

5 out of 5 stars Two masterpieces from an electronica legend.......2004-06-30

The Buchla Electric Music Box (Don Buchla,its inventor,disliked the word "synthesizer") had no greater virtuoso than Morton Subotnick, whose jazz experience brought incredible rhythmic vitality to the purrs, clicks, roars and howls he coaxed from the instrument. SIDEWINDER and UNTIL SPRING were two of his finest early works, and Mode has done electronic music fans a great service by releasing them both on a single disc. Their eerie textures and startling sound events draw the listener into a musical universe wholly Subotnick's own.
Subotnick: And The Butterflies Begin To Sing
Average customer rating: 3 out of 5 stars
  • More of same
 Subotnick: And The Butterflies Begin To Sing

Manufacturer: New World Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Chamber MusicChamber Music | Forms & Genres | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
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ASIN: B0000030JY
Release Date: 1997-05-20

Tracks:

  1. Part I Crime Or Miracle: Crime Or Miracle
  2. Part I Crime Or Miracle: The Volcanic Blacksmith Canons
  3. Part I Crime Or Miracle: Crime Or Miracle
  4. Part I Crime Or Miracle: The Beautiful Gardener
  5. Part II Phantoms Dancing: Sometimes Naked
  6. Part II Phantoms Dancing: Sometimes Dressed In Thin Jets Of Fire
  7. Part II Phantoms Dancing: They Cause The Geysers To Spurt With The Probability...
  8. Part III And The Butterflies Begin To Sing: And The Butterflies Begin To Sing
  9. Part IV Images Will Descend To The Ground: The Waves Are Bitter
  10. Part IV Images Will Descend To The Ground: Truth Will Remain Simple, And Gigantic Wheels...
  11. Part IV Images Will Descend To The Ground: And Images Will Descend To The Ground
  12. All My Hummingbirds Have Alibis: All My Hummingbirds Have Alibis
  13. All My Hummingbirds Have Alibis: All My Joys Have Alibis

Customer Reviews:

3 out of 5 stars More of same.......2002-01-03

Subotnick has always been on the cutting edge of electronic music, but the works on this disc seem a little bit old-hat; KEY TO SONGS presents the same sort of material, and holds the attention a lot better. If you can't get enough Subotnick, this will do; otherwise, save your money for the eventual CD release of the early classics, SIDEWINDER and UNTIL SPRING (we can always hope...)
Composers in the Computer Age 2
Average customer rating: Not rated
    		Composers in the Computer Age 2

    Manufacturer: Centaur
    ProductGroup: Music
    Binding: Audio CD

    ElectronicElectronic | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music | Computer
    GeneralGeneral | Classical | Styles | Music
    GeneralGeneral | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
    MarchesMarches | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music
    Experimental MusicExperimental Music | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music
    Classic Big BandClassic Big Band | Swing Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music
    ASIN: B0000057WV
    Release Date: 1995-03-17

    Tracks:

    1. SoundPoemSet: PaulineOliveros - Larry Austin
    2. SoundPoemSet: JerryHunt - Larry Austin
    3. SoundPoemSet: MortonSubotnick - Larry Austin
    4. SoundPoemSet: DavidTudor - Larry Austin
    5. The First Sea - Micheal Matthews/Lori Freedman
    6. Music For Guitar And Tape - Cort Lippe/Paul Binkley
    7. S' I' Fosse Foco - Eugene De Lissa
    8. Xuan Men - Rodney Washka II/Bruce Berg
    9. Constellations - Rick Chatham/University Of North Texas Wind Ensemble/Dennis W. Fisher
    Touch - Jacob's Room
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      		Touch - Jacob's Room

      Manufacturer: Wergo
      ProductGroup: Music
      Binding: Audio CD
      ASIN: B000A3IA8G

      Product Description

      1)TOUCH (1969) 2)JACOB'S ROOM (1986) Joan La Barbara (soprano) Erika Duke (cello)
      The Virtuoso in the Computer Age
      Average customer rating: Not rated
        		The Virtuoso in the Computer Age

        Manufacturer: Centaur
        ProductGroup: Music
        Binding: Audio CD

        ElectronicElectronic | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music | Computer
        GeneralGeneral | Classical | Styles | Music
        GeneralGeneral | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
        GeneralGeneral | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
        ASIN: B000025VGU
        Release Date: 1993-01-01

        Tracks:

        1. Trembling
        2. Help Me Remember: Listening
        3. Help Me Remember: Looking
        4. Help Me Remember: Dancing
        5. UIUS
        6. Jest fa Laffs
        7. Interlude & Fantasy
        8. At the Edge
        Southwest Chamber Music
        Average customer rating: Not rated
          		Southwest Chamber Music

          Manufacturer: Cambria Records
          ProductGroup: Music
          Binding: Audio CD

          Chamber MusicChamber Music | Forms & Genres | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
          General ModernGeneral Modern | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
          ElectronicElectronic | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music | Computer
          GeneralGeneral | Classical | Styles | Music
          GeneralGeneral | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
          GeneralGeneral | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music
          ASIN: B0001XAQG4
          Release Date: 2004-04-27

          Tracks:

          1. Echoes from the Silent Call of Girona
          2. Echoes from the Silent Call of Girona (Continued)
          3. Echoes from the Silent Call of Girona (Continued)
          4. Fluttering of Wings
          5. Fluttering of Wings (Continued)
          6. Fluttering of Wings (Continued)
          7. Fluttering of Wings (Continued)
          Touch/Jacob's Room
          Average customer rating: Not rated
            		Touch/Jacob's Room

            Manufacturer: Wergo
            ProductGroup: Music
            Binding: Audio CD

            GeneralGeneral | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music
            GeneralGeneral | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
            GeneralGeneral | Classical | Styles | Music
            ASIN: B000025YX0
            Release Date: 1993-06-28

            Tracks:

            1. Touch, Pt. 1 - Morton Subotnick
            2. Touch, Pt. 2 - Morton Subotnick
            3. Jacob's Room, Pt. 1 - Erika Duke, Joan La Barbara, Morton Subotnick
            4. Jacob's Room, Pt. 2 - Erika Duke, Joan La Barbara, Morton Subotnick

            Music Composers:

            1. Suk, Josef
            2. Sullivan, Arthur
            3. Suppé, Franz Von
            4. Svendsen, Johan Severin
            5. Sweelinck, Jan Pieterszoon
            6. Tailleferre, Germaine
            7. Takemitsu, Toru
            8. Tanaka, Karen
            9. Tavener, John
            10. Tchaikovsky, Peter

            Music Composers

            Music Composers