The Wild Beasts

Morton Subotnickis a living legend in the development of electronic music. A leading innovator in works involving instruments and other media, he used many of the important technological breakthroughs of his time in his work as a composer. Many of his compositions contain electronic or computer-generated parts – as do the works compiled on this CD.

“The Wild Beasts” was originally inspired by an exhibition of Les Fauves paintings, which left the impression on Subotnick that every subject can only be perceived through a strangely prismatic atmosphere, an atmosphere comprised of rare and possibly "unearthly" gasses, an atmosphere in which normal expectations of colour and shape would not exist. For these visual impressions, the composer developed an acoustic counterpart: a traditional musical instrument played into an unusual and continually transforming atmosphere, an atmosphere in which normal sound expectations would no longer exist.

“After the Butterfly” is a concerto-like work for trumpet, instrumental ensemble and electronics. The work is one of a series of what Subotnick calls "ghost" pieces. Independent layers of increasing and decreasing intensities of sound material form the basis of the work.

For the first time in over 20 years, WERGO has digitized, re-mastered, and re-released several of the legendary electronic musician and composer's original Nonesuch LP recordings on CD. 

Recorded and originally released on LP by Nonesuch Records: April 1980 (1–3) and March 1981 (4). WERGO-CD released under license from Nonesuch Records. Digitized and reissued on CD in 2015.