Those who think electronic music is something that sprang up recently need to hustle down to MOCA and check out Morton Subotnik.
Back in the early ’60s, long before pretty much any fan of today’s electronic dance music was born, Subotnick was already using synthesizers to create music.
Although he worked in academic and avant-garde arts settings with multimedia presentations, his music broke out of the experimental arts ghetto to contain elements modern audiences would recognize as being the precursors of EDM.
He applied the distinctive sounds created by synthesizer to more linear and traditional compositions than the squeaks and beeps that had relegated most early electronic music to the “sound effects” bin.
That paid off for him big-time when his album 1967 Silver Apples of the Moon was released on Nonesuch, a label known for its adventurous classical releases. It became a staple in the collections of avid rock music fans during that period of musical adventurism, sitting side-by-side with influential rock artists like the Velvet Underground and the Grateful Dead.
At MOCA, Subotnick will perform a concert being described as “both retrospective and forward-looking.”
“Subotnick will use a new hybrid digital-Buchla “instrument” loaded with prepared samples from all previous works and new patches specifically created for the current season of performances. This approach allows Subotnick to combine the past with the present, and envisions a path for future developments in the realm of electronic music.”
This concert, Subotnick’s only one in the region, is presented jointly by MOCA and Oberlin College’s TIMARA(Technology in Music and Related Arts) department.
Tickets are $25.
http://www.mortonsubotnick.com/