The music here was recorded for the Nonesuch label between 1981 and 1985, and it makes an ideal path further into the music of
Morton Subotnick for those who are familiar only with "Silver Apples of the Moon." The procedures involved are intricate and are explained by the composer in the booklet: the scores involve "ghost electronics" that are not directly heard, but that modify the sounds of the live instruments in prescribed ways, and the four pieces on the album are part of more than one larger set (including the titular "Double Life of Amphibians"). All of this is put forth with refreshing clarity, but it's not absolutely necessary to follow it in order to enjoy the music: the surfaces are delightful. "The Last Dream of the Beast" features
Subotnick's wife, soprano
Joan La Barbara, and some "conventional" computer electronics along with the ghost score, and its dramatic quality comes through vividly. But perhaps the most purely enjoyable is the opening "Axolotl" (the name refers to a Mexican salamander), for solo cello and ghost score. The performance here by cellist
Joel Krosnick,
the Juilliard Quartet's cellist and, like the
Juilliard's other members (who also appear in the final "A Fluttering of Wings"), a musician schooled on traditional repertory, is extraordinary. And that's one of the keys to
Subotnick's music: for all its experimentalism, it retains a firm grounding in traditional procedures. The other major stars here are the members of Wergo's engineering team, who have done superb work in remastering the original and already very fine sound. A major release that delivers the cover-promised landmarks of contemporary music. ~ James Manheim