This disc brings the first release of 4 Butterflies for quadrophonic tape on CD and in surround release, and the first recordings of Subotnick’s live remix/recomposition of the classic tape piece Until Spring: Revisited plus A Sky of Cloudless Sulphur: Revisited.
Until Spring was first conceived in 1975 on the Buchla synthesizer using only analogue techniques. “It was about 10 years from Silver Apples to Until Spring,” Subotnick explains, “and I’d evolved a whole concept and a technique, but I had gone as far as I could go with it. I could do everything I wanted to do, but I couldn’t do it in real time.” As computers and software developed in the coming decades, Subotnick created a software-based instrument that he felt could allow him to complete his original vision, which led to Until Spring: Revisited, a reinterpretation constructed around source materials from Until Spring, recorded live in San Francisco. The work has been performed many times by the ensemble of Morton Subotnick (live electronics) and Miguel Frasconi (live electronics and glass harp).
Four Butterflies was originally released as a stereo LP on Columbia Records. This is its first release on CD. Mode has made a high-resolution transfer from the analogue master tapes, which was then given a new mix by the composer. Set in four sections separated by two interludes, Four Butterflies is a floating, mysterious electronic landscape. See also mode237dvd
Liner notes by Andy Battaglia and Morton Subotnick
The DVD also contains special BONUS FEATURES:
Subotnick and SUE-C collaborate on A Sky of Cloudless Sulphur: Revisited, based on the analogue tape piece A Sky of Cloudless Sulphur and created especially for this DVD.
BONUS INTERVIEW: Subotnick, Miguel Frasconi and Sue Costabile discuss their collaboration together.
BONUS INTERVIEW: Subotnick and Ramon Sender speak of the early years experimenting with electronic music and creating the historic San Francisco Tape Center.
