Wendy (Walter) Carlos: Switched On Bach [Vinyl LP] [Stereo]

I kept this album in my collection for years, pulling it out now and then to remember some of the first popular electronic music. Finally, I bought a new copy and was I surprised when I discovered that this familiar nondenominational music really suits the holidays. Now it is a part of my holiday celebration that I want to share with you.For Switched On Bach, Carlos’ playing is crisp, precise and rapid, packing lots of interesting Moog sounds into about 40 minutes of music.Selections include J.S. Bach’s Sinfonia to Cantata #29, Air on a G String, Two-Part Invention in F Major, Two-Part Invention in B Flat Major, Two-Part Invention in D Minor, Jesu, Joy of Mans Desiring, Prelude and Fugue #7 in E-Flat Major, Prelude and Fugue #2 in C Minor, Chorale Prelude “Wachet Auf,” Brandenburg Concerto #3 in F Major I, II, and III.The 8.4 minutes of Carlos’ narration in “Initial Experiments” is interesting the first time you hear it, then it becomes annoying, but it is at the end of the album so you can easily avoid listening.SOUND: The frequency response is good on this recording, with believable treble and bass. There is good left and right separation, so “instruments” are can be distinguished across the soundstage and don’t merge together or move around. If you have the right equipment, there is some 3D projection, giving the soundstage a shallow bas relief. Unfortunately, there are no room acoustics (it’s a digital composition) making the sound a little unnatural.RECOMMENDATIONS: I recommend that you pull this album out of mothballs and listen to it during the holidays. If you lost your copy or don’t have one, this is a chance to get a brand new one. Dancing toddlers love it, adolescents bred on Jewel and Ro Maron tolerate it, and adults know it already.Feel free to click my name to see my Holiday Music, Book & Game List, read more reviews, check for UPDATES, or follow me on Amazon. See you there.I hope this review has been really helpful. Enjoy your holidays!

The scene is an Elementary School music classroom circa 1972. The teacher is telling the students about a new musical instrument called the Moog Synthesizer. It can make sounds and noises that could not be created before. One of the pioneers of this sound and instrument was Wendy Carlos, although I have to admit, I pictured the Bach guy on the cover behind the synth keyboard. The teacher then put the needle down on the LP and it took the students to a whole new level of music appreciation.I'm not a musician or in a music related field of work. But this recording did for me exactly what my music teacher wanted it to. It grabbed my attention with the new strange sounds of the Moog while instilling some of the great classical music in my little mind.Almost four decades later I happened upon this CD on Amazon. Would it still be good? Would it sound childish and immature like I was back then. Or would it be the mind opening sound I remembered?Obviously, since I gave it five stars, it was the latter. The second I hit play and heard the first few bars, I was not only transported back to wonderful memories, but also opened to a new awareness that this music, in varied forms, had become part of my life. I recognized one song from a Disneyland Parade of Lights, another from a movie or commercial. It was a very cool RE-experience.This recording has stood the test of time in my life and I have a feeling that I am not the only one who would experience this pleasant flashback. At first I switched off the last track which is Carlos explaining some of the processes and procedures she went through while finding just the right sounds for this album. After reveling in the music for a bit, I actually listened to the track and gained another increment of respect for this pioneer of music.I highly recommend this disc not only as a piece of musical history and appreciation but as a collection of wonderful music!

It is faithful to the original recording

As one other reviewer has already said, this is an enhanced CD, and might not play on all CD players. When I got my copy, I played it on my DVD player, and it was great. Next day the DVD player gave me a “ cannot play” message, before it actually played it on the next try. But now about the music...Back when I was in college I had the original Columbia album, and just loved it. As the years went by, somehow I lost it, and recently saw a video on YouTube, which was very short lived due to copyright issues. So I went looking on Amazon and found this CD. Boy was it great to hear this again! It makes me feel like I’m going back in time. It sounds just as good as it did back then, and time has not made it obsolete, if anything it sounds fresh and has put a big smile on my face.It was a bit pricey for a CD, but it has been worth it for me. All these years later, I can close my eyes and I’m back in college.

Je me souviens avec un ami d'enfance du nom Pierre S / qui me fait découvrir cet album passant en vinyle seulement du nom de Walter Carlos tiré vos propres conclusions ? donc écouteurs aux oreilles j'écoute cet album wow découverte donc mon ami du temps savait bien que j'aimerais l'album j'ai toute la collections des albums de Wendy Carlos précieusement dans ma collections et je le recommande a tous et toutes !

Un capolavoro senza tempo! Carlos ebbe i complimenti da Bob Moog in persona!

Schon vor dem Moog gab es elektronische Instrumente. Theremin, eine Art berührungsfreie singende Säge. Das Telharmonium, dampfbetrieben und 200 Tonnen schwer! Das nenne Ich mal Steam Punk Heavy Metal. Audion Piano, Trautonium, Geräte, welche mit Oszillatoren und Filtern Töne erzeugten. Ich liebe den Sound zu *Forbidden Planet* oder Hitchcock’s *Die Vögel* oder Kubricks *A Clockwork Orange* Es ist für mich eine Reise in meine Kindheit vor 50+ Jahren. Ich träumte so viel, und dann kam das Leben.Wendy Carlos verband Klassik und Moderne 1968. Das sehr sauber produzierte Album war lange Zeit in den Top Ten und fand über die Jahre viele Liebhaber. Es zeigt die polyphonen Möglichkeiten des eigentlich monophonen Instrumentes auf. Ist es genial oder nur zeitlos schönes Fahrstuhlgeklimper? Es ist soviel mehr! Es ist die Ode an die Freude. Hier hat sich ein Mensch wirklich Mühe gegeben und seine Erfüllung gefunden. Ich bin begeistert. Für mich ist es Inspiration und hat mich immer auf meinem Lebensweg begleitet. Das Cover mit J. S. Bach vor dem Moog mutet an wie eine alternative Wirklichkeit. Vermutlich sind sich hier die Tardis, Bill und Teds Telefonzelle und das zeitreisende Dixi-Klo von Dr. What begegnet.Technischer Geniestreich danach war aber der Mini Moog. Dieser war klein und benötigte keine Steckkabel mehr wie eine alte Telefonzentrale, ein wirkliches Keyboard. Das Modulationsrad a.k.a Pitch gab der Pop Musik den typischen Sound. ELP, Klaus Schulze, Tomita, Jean Michel Jarre, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, n.n., aber dies ist eine andere Geschichte.

I first heard a track from this album (thrid movement of the Brandenburg no. 3) on a Z-minus-2 track on BBC1 just before the start of children's progammes in the winter of 1971/72, and once I'd found out from what album it came from, I went out and bought it for my Dad who loved Bach's music. I wasn't sure he'd like it, but those fears were unfounded and he loved it, and between the two of us, we almost turned the LP into a spiral spring!This CD re-issue is a remastered version from the original master tapes and some tracks do sound ever-so-slightly different from how I remember them on the LP, but not enough to grate on the nerves.Walter (now Wendy) Carlos did an inspired job of rendering the various Bach pieces on the LP on an early-generation synthesiser, and such was the quality of the arrangements that the album has truly stood the test of time. What I like so much about this album is that the overall flavour of the music has been kept whilst the arrangement and sounds used are refreshingly original enough to create an entirely new experience for the listener yet at the same time remaining faithful to the original music score - well, except perhaps on the second movement of the Brandenburg Concerto where Carlos really 'lets the creative juices rip' as it were.For those of you who are old enough to remember Alan Freeman's Saturday afternoon show on Radio 1 in the 1970s, you will recognise several of the music 'stings' Alan used throughout his show (which I still greatly miss) as they were taken from this album.

Ceci est le premier album, osé, rendant hommage à la musique de Bach à travers des sons inconnus alors, une interprétation et une oeuvre qui à ouvert beaucoup de portes à la création sonore musicale que nous connaissons mieux aujourd'hui. Enfin certains devais admettre qu'on pouvais aussi jouer de la musique avec ces machines à sons, et pas seulement des bruitages mystérieux de Science-fiction, uniquement réservé au université et aux bandes sonore pour films et reportages. Méticuleusement enregistré, piste par piste, puisque le modulaire moog ne pouvais jouer qu'une note à la fois à ce stade, les oeuvres de Bach supportant bien ce traitement par leur écriture en voix multiples devenant polyphonique par contrepoint. L'intérêt était donc de recrée des sonorités proche des instruments acoustique de l'orchestre, W. Carlos y réussi qu'a moitié, mais le coté suggestif et différent des autres timbres donne un relief étonnant au tout. Indispensable à tout bonne discothèque.