Morton Subotnick is an pioneer composer of electronic music and multimedia works. Several of his works are still available and you can find and purchase them on this list of albums from his web site. I highly recommend his music due to his ability to fuse conventional instruments with electronics and for providing a human touch to a music that often borders on the antiseptic.

One of the works that is conspicously missing for the list of available recordings is his four part epic of voice and instruments with “Ghost” electronics titled The Double Life of Amphibians. No longer in print, this composition is in three parts but consists of four distinct compositions. It is divided as follows. All quotes are taken from the recordings’ original liner notes.

Part I: Amphibians consists of two works titled “Axolotl” and ” Ascent Into Air”. “Axolotl” is written for solo cello and “a tape and a small package of electronics”. Joel Krosnick is the celloist. “Ascent Into Air” is written for ten instruments and computer generated sound “controlled by the intensity of the cellists’ performance”. The CalArts Twentieth Century Players, conducted by composer Stephen Mosko, perform the work.

Part II: Beasts features only one work, “The Last Dream of The Beast” was initially conceived as a stage piece. This particular version is a rescored performance of “amplified soprano, 2 celli, live electronic sounds and an electronic “ghost” score.” The soprano is Joan Labarbera. Erika Duke and Dane Little are on cellos while Morton Subotnick is on the Buchla 400 Electronic Musical Instrument and “ghost” electronics

The final part is titled Part III: Angels. Its one composition is “A Fluttering of Wings” and is scored for string quartet and an electronic ghost score. This performance is by the Juilliard String Quartet.

The Avant Garde Project has done a fine job organizing these separate recordings, all out of print, into a coherent whole. They even provide the liner notes. You can get their FLAC files here. However Anablog has reformated these files into more manageable 192kbps MP3s which can be downloaded from the links below. It is a shame that this powerful work is no longer in print and we can only thank web sites such as Anablog and The Avant Garde Project for unearthing these masterpieces and presenting for the edification of the public.

Update: The MP3 files from Anablog are no longer available. However, you can still download the music in FLAC format from The Avant Garde Project.

Update 2: The AGP web site now offers this work in 192kbps MP3 as well as FLAC. The links below have veen changed to reflect this.

Download
FLAC files
MP3 files