Morton Subotnick (1933-)
Until spring, revisited, pour électroniques live, verrillon et vidéo live (1976/2009)
4 Butterflies, pour bande à quatre canaux et deux films de Mario Castillo (1973)

Morton Subotnick, électroniques live
Miguel Frasconi, électroniques live et verrillon

C’est un paysage électronique vaporeux et énigmatique que nous fait découvir Mode avec ce tout premier enregistrement disponible sur CD de la version originale de 1973 de « 4 Butterflies », composé par Morton Subotnick. Cet inédit s’accompagne d’une réinterprétation d’ « Until spring », pièce écrite en 1976, dans laquelle Subotnick adapte les nouvelles technologies qu’il a développées en conservant le matériau de base de l’œuvre.

This disc brings the first release of 4 Butterflies for quadrophonic tape on CD and in surround release (DVD only), and the first recordings of Subotnick’s live remix/recomposition of the classic tape piece Until Spring: Revisited plus (on DVD only) A Sky of Cloudless Sulphur: Revisited. Until Spring was first conceived in 1975 on the Buchla synthesizer using only analog 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), Miguel Frasconi (live electronics and glass harp), and stunning live improvisational visual accompaniment by Sue Costabile (SUE-C). 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 analog 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. On DVD, two sections are accompanied by films created by artist Mario Castillo, which were projected during live performances during the period of the premiere. These films have not been seen since that time and have been newly transferred for this release. Also, one movement is accompanied with Subotnick's original video experiments, never publicly screened before.