In the Aeon of Horus the basic unit of society has shifted from society, government, corporations or the family to the individual. Of course, as long as individuals live and work together in groups like families, corporations… said individuals are likely to live happily, effectively and productively (whatever the latter might mean to them) if they take the prerogatives of their fellows into account. So the trick is balancing living in the midst of society while thinking and acting as individual — and having that end well. It turns out that this is a matter that concerned one of the creators of modern electronic music Morton Subotnick who’s seminal work “Silver Apples of The Moon” is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
The new work takes its name from a 1960 political treatise by Elias Canetti, a critique of mass thinking that speaks to Mr. Subotnick’s valuing of the individual. The music is entirely abstract — Ms. La Barbara will sing syllabic murmurs, not a specific text — but Mr. Subotnick sees its message as resonant with the current moment.
“I started this long before there was a Trump,” he said. “It’s my statement about how it feels to raise the issue that we’re always going to be in this position of losing ourselves in crowds.”
