From: Gary Davis <> Date: Sun Dec 21, 2003 10:09 am
Subject: Re: Wendy Carlos CDs
Certainly her 'Switched-on-Bach' recordings are definitely her most popular.
But for me, I've always been more attracted to her recordings of her own
compositions. Sonic Seasonings, Beauty in the Beast and Tales of Heaven and
Hell (her most recent original release) are for me her most exciting works.
From: "Andrew J. Rozsa" <> Date: Sat Dec 20, 2003 1:01 pm
Subject: Re: [e-Prog] Walter Carlos CDs
In my opinion, if you were to acquire only one item, the recently issued
(with much remastered/enhanced music) "Switched-On Boxed Set" is unbeatable.
The box includes four (4) albums: 1) Switched-On Bach; 2) The Well-Tempered
Synthesizer; 3) Switched-On Bach II; and 4) Switched-On Brandenburgs and also
two "books" with excellent both "original" and "new notes" (text, history,
pictures, discussion of instruments and technique, etc.). The most complete
resource for Carlos aficionados (I am one - she, Pink Floyd, and Tangerine
Dream started my interest in electronic music and, eventually, art rock) is
Wendy Carlos' superb Web site: http://www.wendycarlos.com/ Good reading and
listening.
From: "Juan Battaglino" <> Date: Sat Dec 20, 2003 9:51 am
Subject: Re: [e-Prog] Walter Carlos CDs
"Beauty in the Beast" is one of the strangest and at the same time most
beautiful CDs I've ever heard. (North Side label, work from 1986, published
again in 2000). Contains weird tunings, Tibetan chants, gamelan music,
African music, alien music, all of it in a strange, avant-gardish envelope
that plays like a 45 minute soundtrack... (although there are 8 separate
works, these are not, of course, songs...) Carlos also has a 2 CD rendition
of Bach's Brandenburg Concerti on synthesizers (Switched on Brandenburgs Vol
I and II, on the CBS label, recordings from 1969/75/80, the CDs that I have
were published in 1987), very, very respectful of the original, restrained
for the most part to just replacing instruments sprinkling here and there
with a few strange sounds, a very "lively" rendition, with fast tempos and a
percussive palette of timbres, an excellent rendition of sublime music... It
seems that I can't stop adding adjectives, but this is one of my favorite
versions of the Brandenburgs... I'm listening again to two more CDs that I
have forgotten for a while, "Digital Moonscapes" and "Sonic Seasonings", I
will let you know...
Gary Davis <> wrote:
This is the first ever CD release of Wendy Carlos' memorable score to
Stanley Kubrick's Clockwork Orange. Along with Carlos' classical realization
of the Ode to Joy from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, this was the recording
which first introduced the world to Wendy's original compositions, including
Timesteps, still considered one of the landmarks of electronic music. For
this release, Wendy has restored and digitally remastered the original
recordings and added two pieces which did not fit on the original 1972 CBS
LP. Also this new CD contain for the first time the complete version of
Timesteps! This is one of the most sought after recordings by both Wendy
Carlos fans and film score enthusiasts.
The CLOCKWORK
ORANGE score is spectacular in both composition and instrumental wizardry. I
rate it higher than SWITCHED ON BACH (the original one) since it has more
variety and originality. Highly recommended to anyone who likes classical
music with a clean contemporary feel.
From: Mike Flemmer <>
I don't think Carlos' ever interpreted Pictures, or any major romantic period
orchestral work, as far as I know, just major Baroque works. Thus, it's
difficult for me to say that Tomita was better than Carlos. That said, I
agree that Tomita's interpretations are better than anyone else, because
others to compare to Tomita are few and now obscure and forgotten. (BTW,
Tomita's Firebird Suite is also very good). But I must say that Carlos has
acheived the greatest moog work ever recorded: Switched-On Brandenburgs (by
Bach). Review:
http://www.jsbach.org/switchedon.html Not only is this the last great
all-moog recording that anyone ever made, as nothing since has been better
(or even attempted), and not only did Carlos pioneer the all-moog concept,
and not only did Carlos bring Bach to many people for the first time, but I
suspect it may never be surpassed because no one makes all-analog recordings
anymore. Thus, Carlos started this unique genre (all analog synth) and took
it to it's zenith (Switched-On Brandenburgs). Carlos still makes all synth
recordings, but not with analog synths. Yes, Tomita created the best
full-orchestra analog synth interpretations, but they still don't surpass
Carlos' Brandenburgs. Some of the analog sounds Tomita uses sounded new and
fresh then, but sound out of date now. Whereas Carlos uses all pure tones and
never synth 'noise'. That is, Carlos never uses those analog synth sounds
that sounds like someone is turning a knob on the synth to create those odd
harmonics and noises only analog synths can make. Carlos avoids these 'synth'
sounds and sticks to making pure instrument tones, like oboes, flutes,
harpsichord, etc... I think Carlos was trying to create super-natural virtual
instruments, that we are all familiar with, but have extra super range and
capabilities. For example, on one track Carlos is using a harpsichord sound
that sounds somewhat like a harpsichord, but it also has new characteristics
about it that real harpsichords don't have. Then, when the 'virtual'
harpsichord plays a trill, it plays it faster than a human musician could and
it's absolutely wonderful to hear. It's like hearing a super human
harpsichordist- and yet Carlos manages to make it sound musically artistic
and not gimmicky. So not only does the harpsichord sound stand up to time,
but so does the super human trill, and both never sound gimmicky because
Carlos applied the highest artistic standards possible to the whole
interpretation. (Volume II is the best and has the example I just described.)
I still find several tracks absolutely astonishing, even miraculous. A
musical achievement of the highest artistic accomplishment (and done on a
moog!) I still never tire of the Brandenburg No3 (which probably everyone
here has heard). Not only do I not tire of it- but when it's done, I am
compelled to play it again, and still never get tired of it! The colors,
tones, So again, Tomita is wonderful, and I recommend his Firebird, but
Carlos deserves top credit for starting the all-analog genre and then top
prize for creating the greatest all-analog recording (and unfortunately
bringing the genre to a close). I certainly agree with the desire of others
here to bring the analog synth back into full use. But, these all analog
recordings are extremely time consuming and difficult to make and only the
most determined and talented, like Carlos and Tomita, can make them with a
high level of quality. And, it's astonishing how good they where in the days
before midi and digital recording! Now, that is true devotion and hard work!
Anyone here using just a moog and multi-track tape recorder?
From: Christopher Robbin <>
Someone mentioned Wendy Carlos and her work on the movie Clockwork Orange. I
wanted to offer a caveat to anyone looking at buying this music: there are
TWO Clockwork Orange albums. Let me explain: When the movie was first
released, Warners (whose film division released the movie) put out the
soundtrack. This included a truncated version of Timesteps, and a few other
edits to Carlos's work. Also, there was a lot of non-Carlos music on the
soundtrack, as it had appeared in the movie (such as Singing In The Rain). A
few months later, CBS (the label Carlos was signed to at the time) also
released a Clockwork Orange album. This contained most of the music that she
had worked on, including the unedited Timesteps, as well as a couple items
that didn't even make it (such as Country Lane, which was originally intended
to be used in the scene where Alex is beaten and then nearly drowned by his
ex-droogs). Warners reissued their soundtrack on CD some years back, but it
wasn't until last year that the CBS release appeared on CD. It is available
on the ESD label, and now also includes two previously unreleased bonus
tracks. This is the one to get if you want to hear Carlos's music.
From: Brian Phraner <>
Speaking of Wendy Carlos I thought I would share this with you all... In 1994
I was doing a tour as FOH engineer for the band Sky Cries Mary (very cool
band - http://www.skycriesmary.com/). Whilst stopping in New York to do a gig
at the Limelight (I think that was the place... big gothic cathedral turned
rock club) my good friend, and then SCM keyboard player, Gordon Rapheal took
me to meet Wendy at her downtown flat. I think it was like the entire 11
floor of an apartment building in Manhattan. Anyway, she took us into her
studio and proceeded to show us some of the things she was working on;
Scoring some piano pieces with new midi software; Working with Kurzwiel to
tweak sounds in their latest (at the time) samplers; And most interesting to
me, she played us some fantastic instruments made from samples... Let me back
up here just a little. Earlier in the year, Gordon Rapheal had introduced
Wendy to another NYC icon, Tom O'Horgan (check my spelling of Tom's last
name?) who was a Broadway producer and a collector of instruments (The
original musical Hair is among his work). His apartment, another entire floor
of a building not too far from Wendy's, was completely decked out with
instruments that were antique originals, many older than Dan Rather and
Morley Safer combined!. Things like the original predecessors to the guitar,
lute and harpsichord, an entire ceiling of wind chimes tied to strings that
came to a central point so that when you pulled on the bundle, all the chimes
would ring at once, a false wall with cut outs filled with every imaginable
size Chinese gong and many more. (incidentally a few years later I was
watching Mr. Rogers on PBS with my then 2 year old daughter when low and
behold, there he was doing a tour of Tom's apartment on his show!) So it's no
surprise that Wendy went gaga over these instruments and came back over and
sampled them. She then took those samples and was working her magic on them
when I met her. It was if she was creating the "next generation" of
instruments for the music of the next millennium. The things she was doing
with these sampled instruments were just fantastic and wild. Everything was
so new, so fresh and exciting that I felt like I was secretly seeing the
future of modern music as it was being born in Wendy's studio. Words really
come up short of expressing the feeling of the moment. I'll bet you someday
we will be sitting back listening to an MP12 (9 generations after MP3?) of
some fantastic new prog band, or I hope something from Wendy herself and hear
a taste of what I heard as an embryo in Wendy Carlos' studio...
From: Chris Richards <>
> Was she using a computer sequencer back then? Was it suppose to be a
secret? (Not a PC of today course, but something similar) She has said many
times there were no computers used back then...
Well, there were sequencers, nothing as complex as what we have now, but
Moog and several other companies made sequencers that could be used not only
to create repeating loops (as heard in Tangerine Dream's Ricochet pt.1, for
instance), but also to control any element of a tone (say, filter cut off
frequency, not just pitch. But I don't think Wendy ever used one. In the
70's, she did an interview in Keyboard magazine. They showed a picture of her
Moog setup at the time, which did include a sequencer. The interviewer asked
her what she used it for, and she said "Nothing", and explained that at the
time Switched On Bach was first released, she did a number of TV appearances,
and someone decided that the flashing lights on the sequencer module, would
"look impressive" to the audience.
From: "Juan Battaglino" <>
"Beauty in the Beast" is one of the strangest and at the same time most
beautiful CDs I've ever heard. (North Side label, work from 1986, published
again in 2000). Contains weird tunings, Tibetan chants, gamelan music,
African music, alien music, all of it in a strange, avant-gardish envelope
that plays like a 45 minute soundtrack... (although there are 8 separate
works, these are not, of course, songs...)
Carlos also has a 2 CD rendition of Bach's Brandenburg Concerti on
synthesizers (Switched on Brandenburgs Vol I and II, on the CBS label,
recordings from 1969/75/80, the CDs that I have were published in 1987),
very, very respectful of the original, restrained for the most part to just
replacing instruments sprinkling here and there with a few strange sounds, a
very "lively" rendition, with fast tempos and a percussive palette of
timbres, an excellent rendition of sublime music... It seems that I can't
stop adding adjectives, but this is one of my favorite versions of the
Brandenburgs...
From: "Andrew J. Rozsa" <>
In my opinion, if you were to acquire only one item, the recently issued
(with much remastered/enhanced music) "Switched-On Boxed Set" is unbeatable.
The box includes four (4) albums: 1) Switched-On Bach; 2) The Well-Tempered
Synthesizer; 3) Switched-On Bach II; and 4) Switched-On Brandenburgs and also
two "books" with excellent both "original" and "new notes" (text, history,
pictures, discussion of instruments and technique, etc.). The most complete
resource for Carlos aficionados (I am one - she, Pink Floyd, and Tangerine
Dream started my interest in electronic music and, eventually, art rock) is
Wendy Carlos' superb Web site: www.wendycarlos.com. Good
reading and listening.
From: "mellotrongirl" <>
I recall that Switched-On Bach was for the longest time the most succesful
money-making classical album in recorded history. I wonder if it still is. I
wouldn't doubt it. ESD did a great job reissuing some of her key works, with
extra tracks and great liner notes. I'd like to go the other way and discover
some of her works going back way before the Tempi/Columbia days. Still, Sonic
Seasonings remains my favorite non-classical work from Wendy. What an
absolutely ambitious effort it must have been to get Switched On Bach to its
final presentation, given the intimidation of the big first gen Moog with all
its patch cords and sonic capabilities along with the limited layering
recording techniques avaliable then. And we thought Oldfield had fun with the
mixdown when the topic of his early albums came along a few months ago... In
an article in Playboy in 1974, Carlos talks in a rare interview about
juggling the transsexual issue conflicting with touring schedules and
relations with the record label. I guess her label very nearly cut ties with
her over this; her gender reassignment surgery took place in 1971. What a
bunch of sad trivia. Kind of reminds me of Virgin Records citing "marketing
problems" with Boy George when Culture Club was signed around 1980.