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The Well-Tempered Synthesizer --ESD 81612
The long-awaited fully-restored edition
Available for the First Time on CDOptimum 20-bit Hi-D transfers from the original 1969 master mixes, cleaned and tweaked to a fare-thee-well. This is the best this album has ever sounded. Enjoy the follow-up to S-OB, itself a Double Grammy Nominated production which sold nearly half a million copies on LP.
New Editions of the Original Classics Two years ago we assembled a Special Edition Boxed Set of all of Wendy Carlos's Bach and Baroque realizations on the Moog Synthesizer. It was always our intent to give both listener and collector your choice, whichever you prefer: everything together in one place, plus many extras unavailable elsewhere, or the original separate four albums. For those of you who prefer all in one place at a bargain price with all the added extras, you ought check out our page on the Boxed Set.
For those who want their Switched-On's and Well-Tempered's more like the way they first came out, just a LOT better sounding and looking, you've come to the right place. This is the cover (which alone took two weeks of work to reconstruct) and presentation you remember, with additional remarks seen from the perspective of over three decades later. The sound is again in meticulously preserved and restored ultra hi-fi 20-bit audio. Don't confuse this album with any earlier releases. The audio on them was at best two more analog tape generations away from the original master mixes we returned to for these deluxe editions. You can hear these historical breakthrough recordings as they've never been heard before. We think you'll agree it was well worth the wait.
Produced by Rachel Elkind-Tourre for Tempi |
Switched-on
Bach was released at the end of
1968 and became an immediate success. It was acclaimed as real music
by musicians and the listening public alike. As a result, the Moog
Synthesizer was suddenly accepted with open arms by the music
business community. We witnessed the birth of a new genre of
music--classical music, realized with impeccable musicianship on
synthesizer and tape recorder.
Now, some three decades later, the
electronic music medium has evolved into a mainstream musical tool.
Sixteen-track and twenty-four-track recorders came to be widely used
after the release of Switched
on Bach, and then digital
synthesizers, hard disk recorders, and computer-based music
production systems. Wendy's contributions to this evolution cannot be
overstated.
She has realized a wide range of high
quality music, set ever-increasing standards for sound synthesis,
developed a significant body of alternate tunings, and generously
provided her usual perceptive advice to equipment manufacturers. Her
four Bach/Baroque albums, specially remastered for this release, are
major milestones in the evolution of electronic music. At the same
time, each album stands by itself as an important contribution to our
classical music tradition. I'm delighted to witness the re-release of
these works, as are countless numbers of music lovers throughout the
world.
--Robert A. Moog
But then I didn't write
"The Well-Tempered
Synthesizer." My collaborator,
Rachel Elkind, and I had planned that our second release would be an
album of original works, along with new arrangements of some existing
music, and expansion beyond the horizons of Bach on the Moog
Synthesizer. But the fans of Switched-On
Bach and the record company heads
were unanimous about one thing: "Give us more switched-on,
please!"
Finally we agreed to go with one more
album that was more sequel than new step. We postponed those horizons
for albums three and four (Sonic
and Clockwork).
The decision wasn't made lightly, as it required many months of
tedious labor to produce a master of the quality we wanted, using the
tools of the day. (In 2001 the "advances" assure that it takes even
longer today, but I can't think about that right now, or I'll cry.)
We had to pick up exactly where we'd left off six months earlier. At
least we did expand to several other Baroque composers besides Papa
Bach. Thus began a careful audition of selections we might
perform.
A few Scarlatti Sonatas attracted us
immediately, and Handel's venerable Water Music contained movements
that would fit the Moog's limitations well. For a J.S. Bach element
we fell in love again with his Fourth Brandenburg. We vacillated on a
final composer, eventually choosing the two Monteverdi works, as
abbreviated suites, which would serve our more dramatic tastes quite
nicely. I had already decided on the mild joke title for
W-TS.
Eventually everyone agreed, and surprisingly it remained intact on
the final album.
No longer was it necessary to "prove"
that the synthesizer was a musical instrument. S-OB
had done that far better than we ever dreamt. But we did want to show
other sides of the electronic media, at least as far as the
repertoire permitted. I got my personal creative fun from new
arrangements, inventive ways to use click tracks and other clever
tricks and tools, and the pointillistic "hocketing" invented for the
Scarlatti Sonatas. That worked out splendidly in stereo, and these
quite intricate sound weavings are considered among the album's
favorite tracks.
Glenn Gould again loved the results,
and wrote a most generous comment about our new Brandenburg
realization. CBS's Tom Frost added an excited liner note to our
longer ones, expressing the optimism with which they greeted our
newest offspring. Then out the door to the public it went. We were
lucky again, it garnered some fine reviews and sales were brisk. It
still seems odd that when Sony acquired CBS they put out CD's of
S-OB,
but not of W-TS,
which was one of their most successful Masterworks recordings
ever!
It remained until now to do the
definitive CD edition. There was nearly as much work expended in
restoring the original tracks as in their initial creation, hand
tweaking and polishing every note and phrase, while remaining
completely accurate to the final masters. It has never sounded so
good, and we trust you'll enjoy this rebirth of a classic!
--Wendy Carlos
The Well-Tempered Synthesizer was recorded originally on a custom 8-track 1" (Ampex 300/351) tape machine using Dolby A, then mixed to Dolby stereo premasters using a two-track 1/4" Ampex. The mixes were edited and transferred using equalization and level optimization to the final masters. For this new edition we began with the first generation premasters. The standards today do not require most of the EQ and gain riding steps used in 1969, so only the main levels were matched to the original releases. This meant we could make an optimum Hi-D 20-bit transfer, and perform these basic adjustments all within a 24 bit environment. From these definitive transfers, a release master was next prepared. All tracks were meticulously fine-tuned, cleaned and optimized over a period of several weeks, as with the other ESD masters in this series. You may rest assured that this is the best these recordings have ever sounded.
This
Special Edition of The
Well-Tempered Synthesizer
was assembled by Wendy Carlos. Graphics layout, creative design and
supervision by Chika Azuma. All texts and photos (except where
noted), illustrations, image processing, audio engineering and CD
mastering by the composer.
With a special thanks to Bob
Moog for his generous comments and permission to print the original
Moog logo, to John Romkey, for computer equipment and frequent
support, to Clare Cooper for assistance during master transfers, to
Chris & Todd & Georges @ Arboretum Systems, and Eric Klein @
Waves, to Joe Winograd and Gabriel Lawrence @ Aris for MusiCode
support, to Drew Miller@ ESD for the Enhanced-CD file assembly and
HTML editing, and to ESD's Rob Simonds for thoughtful suggestions,
feedback, and executive support.
(Top
of the Page)
Interviews
There were many interesting reviews and articles which came out on the release of the complete Boxed Set in the Fall of 1999. Since many of the comments apply to this new edition of W-TS, you might enjoy reading these articles in their entirety. To kick things off, here's a nicely done article/interview, with more depth than usual, that comes from Orcas Island (near Seattle), Washington. It was written by veteran music reviewer, Carol Wright (look at her neat site, too), for the November 1999 issue of New Age Voice. She is also the New Age Music Editor for Barnes and Noble, where you can find some of her other fine reviews. There's also her fine brief interview with me that answers several outstanding questions, to be found on the bn.com site, which you can read HERE.
From:
Goldmine
#560
January 11, 2002
WENDY CARLOS
Switched-On
Bach
East Side Digital ESD 81602
Genre: IMPORTANT REISSUES
WENDY CARLOS
The Well-Tempered
Synthesizer
East Side Digital ESD 81612
Genre: IMPORTANT REISSUES
Wendy
Carlos's integration of classical music with modern technology
created the 1968 classic, Switched-On
Bach, a Grammy-winning album that became one of the
biggest selling classical recordings of all time.
The blending of Bach's chorales and concertos with the Moog
synthesizer proved that the electronic musical instrument could
indeed be used for soulful and intricate performance and composition.
Not only was this recording the first in a series of well received
synthesizer recordings from Carlos, it also inspired dozens of "Moog"
albums from other performers, each one attempting to use the
synthesizer for everything from Beethoven to The Beatles.
In 2000, Carlos released a four-CD package,
Switched-On Boxed Set, which
contained S-OB and three of her
related LP's. For those who could not afford the price of a four-CD
box set with 200 pages of liner notes and an ornate box, Carlos has
reissued both Switched-On Bach
and its follow-up, The Well-Tempered
Synthesizer, on single discs (while
Switched-On Bach has been released on CD
before, The Well-Tempered Synthesizer makes its debut as a CD solo
release).
The discs retain the clarity and freshness of the original
master tapes -- compared to the original vinyl editions, the clarity
is much better -- one can hear the tiniest nuances in pitch and
oscillation that were originally masked in the earlier analog
versions. The boisterous "Sinfonia to Cantata #29" is more striking
and joyful than ever before, and Carlos's interpretation of Bach's
"Third Brandenburg Concerto" has more depth and inventive interaction
between synth-woodwind and synth-brass creations.
Carlos' second disc was the acclaimed follow-up to
Switched-On Bach,
The Well-Tempered Synthesizer
(whose title is a reference to Bach's "Well-Tempered Clavier"). On
this disc, Carlos and producer Rachel Elkind bring more of Bach's
compositions and concertos into the electronic world and add
classical masterpieces such as Handel's "Water Music" and four
Scarlatti sonatas. One can hear both the evolution of the synthesizer
as an accepted musical instrument and Carlos's attempts to find new
and unique ways to make the synthesizer do more than just beep and
buzz.
The two discs also contain narration and discussion from
Carlos on her recording techniques and experimentations. The liner
notes contain not only the original texts from the vinyl album
covers, but also some selected observations that appear in Carlos's
Switched-On Boxed Set texts.
Both Switched-On Bach and
The Well-Tempered Synthesizer are
enhanced CD's -- the discs contain a snapshot of the
www.wendycarlos.com Web page as well as
links to East Side Digital, the company currently scheduled to
release more of Carlos's albums in the future.
If you want to prove to someone that electronic music did not
begin with Brian Eno or Trent Reznor, buy them a copy of
Switched-On Bach and watch their
eyes light up in amazement.
--Chuck Miller
From:
WENDY CARLOS
Switched-On Boxed Set
Producer(s): Rachel Elkind
East Side Digital ESD 81422
Genre: VITAL REISSUES
Originally
reviewed for week
ending 11/13/99
Go
To Billboard.com
Since
Wendy Carlos unleashed "Switched-On Bach" upon an unsuspecting
world in 1968, her Moog synthesizer orchestrations have been hailed
variously as a watershed in electronic music and as a passing
novelty. Certainly, three decades later "Switched-On" classics have
become a cliché, and the synthesizer itself is now simply part
of our contemporary sonic fabric. That leaves the music-making itself
to be judged. Carlos' renditions remain the platinum standard of
their ilk, not because she replicated the sound of a Baroque
orchestra but because her own orchestral palette was so unique: Her
"instruments" huffed, wheezed, and clanked like an intergalactic
music box -- and yet under Carlos' hands, they illuminate the
contrapuntal magic of Bach and his contemporaries as if their
intricate mazes were formed in midair.
The "Switched-On Box Set" includes all
four of Carlos' electronic Bach and Baroque albums released on
Columbia, from the original "Switched-On Bach" in '68 to the
final "Switched-On Brandenburgs" in 1980. The scrolled and
bordered artwork of the boxed set reinforces the ironically antique
image of the music, while two booklets (totaling nearly 200 pages)
include the original liner notes and more background information than
you could ever desire. Plus, Carlos throws in an enhanced CD with
extra info and a virtual synthesizer to boot.
Review in American Record Guide March/April 2000
BACH: Switched-On Bach's Set
Wendy Carlos, synthesizer
East Side Digital 81422 {4CD] 192 minutes
As
you know from my enthusiastic review of Wendy Carlos's soundtrack for
Stanley Kubrick's Clockwork
Orange, Sonic
Seasonings, and Tales
of Heaven and Hell (Sept/Oct
1999), I grew up listening to her amazing music and artistry--you
might even say it shaped a lot of my earliest thoughts about what
musical performance was and could be. Switched-On Bach was one
of the first classical albums I ever heard, and I heard it long
before I had heard Bach on conventional (let alone period)
instruments. Carlos's brilliant transcription of Bach's Sinfonia for
Cantata 29 blew me away. For a long time I couldn't listen to
anything else on the record. But soon I savored the rest of the disc
as well: varied and ever-fresh realizations of the 'Air on the G
String', 'Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring', the inventions in F, B-flat,
and D minor; the E-flat and C-minor preludes and fugues from WTC I;
'Wachet auf'; and the piece de resistance, Brandenburg 3. Wendy
Carlos started me on a lifetime of loving and performing Bach as well
as a continuing desire to study and make electronic music that
retained a sense of tonality and expressive immediacy.
Over the years, some of Carlos's Bach
recordings were reissued on CD, and they always left me feeling a bit
disappointed. The sound wasn't as lustrous as I remembered, for one
thing; what's more, my favorite installment in the series--the superb
Well-Tempered Synthesizer -- never appeared in the new medium
except for brief, tantalizing excerpts on the now-deleted Sony disc
Secrets of Synthesis. And while I never lost my love or
respect for Carlos or her work, bringing it up in classes and in
conversations whenever I could, I wondered if perhaps my unabashed
affection for her achievement might have been more the product of
youthful inexperience, a kind of musical "puppy love". Well, having
devoured these completely remastered treasures--both volumes of
Switched-On Bach, the remaining Brandenburgs, and, of course,
The Well-Tempered Synthesizer -- I've concluded that my first
impressions were absolutely right. Wendy Carlos is a cultural icon of
the same magnitude as Leonard Bernstein and Glenn Gould: all three
were artists whose personalities and vision changed forever the way
we heard and thought about music.
For the new CDs, Carlos took the
original master tapes and lovingly cleaned them up at a digital audio
work-station. Every detail is vibrant and clear--much better than on
the LP's, since that medium didn't allow the level peaks, high
frequencies, sharp attacks, and so on of the original. (And just for
the record, I should mention that Carlos had little if anything to do
with the original Sony CD reissues; these are of little value
now.)
For those who come new to the Carlos
experience, let me list the contents of the four discs. The first,
Switched-on Bach, contains the works I have already mentioned. Next
is the Well-Tempered, which has Brandenburg 4, four Scarlatti sonatas
(K 455 in G, K 491 and 96 in D, and K 531 in E), three excerpts from
Handel's Water Music (the Bourrée and Air from the F-major
suite and the Hornpipe from the D-major one), and two Monteverdi
tracks (a suite fashioned from a few instrumental and choral pieces
in Act I of Orfeo and the grand opening motet from the Vespers,
'Domine ad adjuvandum'). Switched-On Bach II has the Badinerie,
Minuet, and Bourrée from Bach's orchestral suite in B minor,
the Inventions in A and A minor, 'Sheep May Safely Graze,' four
little pieces from Anna Magdalena's Notebook (including a
heart-rending 'Bist du bei mir'), and Brandenburg 5. Finally, the
Switched-On Brandenburgs has the first, second, and sixth
concertos.
The remastered discs have a few bonuses:
tracks narrated by Carlos that include tests and rejected
arrangements and the transcription of the Little Fugue in G minor
(originally on the Columbia By Request album), included here
so that all the Bach pieces are in one place. And there's more: the
fourth disc includes a computer demo of "a virtual analog
synthesizer" and many photographs (accessible via CD-ROM drives). The
original notes from the albums are collected in one booklet (Benjamin
Folkman's liner notes for the first album are still some of the best
I have ever read) and a larger booklet includes remarks by Robert
Moog and lengthy historical and technical essays by Carlos.
The remastered discs reveal both the
beautiful detail of the transcriptions and (on the first disc) some
of Carlos's "growing pains" as a performer--mostly occasional lapses
in synchronization and a couple of smudged notes. (In her defense,
Carlos writes that she wanted to fix these glitches, but Benjamin
Folkman assured her that the performances were "good enough" -- I
wonder if he knew how important the recordings would be 30 years down
the road and beyond!)
There's absolutely nothing here to
discourage buying this amazing set, so I'll just comment on some of
the many highlights. The four Scarlatti sonatas--in particular, K 455
-- are amazing because of their innovative treatment. First, the
musical lines rapidly change position in the stereo image -- from
hard right to left and back; second, Carlos uses multitrack recording
to double certain notes in the musical lines with different timbres
and percussive white noise--the result is a rich sounding and
dramatic rehearing of Scarlatti's visceral sonatas that, quite
frankly, is more exciting than the originals can ever be.
Carlos is a composer as well as a
performer and audio professional and shows her uncanny sense for just
the right timbres in her realization of the E-flat fugue from WTC I;
the three-part contrapuntal web has more clarity than would be
possible on a keyboard instrument (not to mention more lively
ornamentation). And again Carlos changes the sounds subtly to reveal
the work's structure and maintain expressive variety: the subtle
doublings of white noise near the end are both clever and elegantly
comic. I spend a lot of time talking about the sounds themselves
because I find them so amazing and fresh, but rest assured the
performances are no less impressive. Carlos's interpretations are
vivid, loving, full of variety. Listen to the exciting finale to
Brandenburg 5 and the lyric, almost melancholy, version of Wachet Auf
David Moore talked about Carlos's new version, Switched-On
Bach 2000 for Telarc (Jan/Feb 1993); I
don't believe American Record Guide covered the earlier, inferior CD
re-releases. Carlos's Switched-On Bach Set is an historic recording
in the very best sense.
--Rob HASKINS
A Featured review Switched-On Boxed Set from the:
Performance: Exquisite
Recording: Astonishing
Go To J.S. Bach Home
Page
This
re-release of Wendy Carlos' early recordings has been long awaited.
At last, these treasures are available in this wonderful boxed set.
Wendy Carlos went back to the original master tapes for this
collection, producing the most clear and detailed versions yet
released. The results are amazing, with sounds and nuances that were
not audible on the LP's or early cd releases. And for the very first
time on cd, "The Well-Tempered Synthesizer", which is, in my
opinion, the most beautiful electronic creation of classical music
ever produced. I hadn't heard this release in a decade and hearing it
again now took my breath away.
There are bonuses on each cd, for
example, the Little Fugue in G Minor and the alternate second
movements for Brandenburg Concerto No. 3. Also, included are some
tracks of Wendy Carlos' narrative explaining the evolution of some of
the works, overcoming technical problems, etc. It is a delight to
hear, in her own charmingly New York accented voice, the genius
behind these incredible recordings.
The boxed set also includes an extensive
book with photographs detailing how each recording evolved, her
production partnership with Rachel Elkind, the evolution of her
unique and impressive Moog Synthesizer and recording studio and other
personal details providing great insight and interesting reading. A
detailed description of the Moog Synthesizer modules, with
photographs, is fascinating.
The boxed set is an exciting reward to
all the loyal fans who have been waiting for these precious
recordings to be available on cd. And as one of those long-time fans
I can't express my enthusiasm too strongly.
--Jan Hanford (<jan@jsbach.org>)
A mini-review on
Amazon
My Box of Boxes ! * * * * * (five stars)
Reviewer: A.W.M. Schoormans
from The Netherlands
In the early seventies I bought my first Carlos record. In fact I didn't know what kind of music I actually bought, but I felt it had something. It was the time of the Quadraphonic records and my interest in classical composers was awakening. The amount of Quadra-(SQ) records in the record stores was very small, that's why I met the SQ-record of Switched on Bach. From that moment my life went "classical", with a special interest in synthesizer music. In the years that followed I have bought a lot of synthesizer-records, but the most of all I loved the ones from Wendy and Isao Tomita. I think many of Carlos listeners have that same experience. By Wendy I have now reached a high classical listening level and I am really grateful for that! The Switched On Boxed Set has become one of my most precious possessions. I wouldn't have dreamed that it turned out so beautiful and full of wonderful information. What a fantastic job Wendy did and thanks to ESD! Almost every year I play Wendy's records, but they never bore. Every sound settles in your ears. Also the new CD "Tales of Heaven an Hell" is fabulous. Wendy Carlos is forever !
Wendy Carlos's Switched-On Boxed
Set
Review by Peter Manzi, managing
editor for New
Age Voice
"Wendy
Carlos is the original synth," her logo proclaims. It's a crown she
rightfully claims as creator of Switched-On Bach and three
other revolutionary albums of baroque interpretations played on the
Moog Synthesizer. Released in 1968, Switched-On Bach quickly
became among the best-selling classical albums of all time. Carlos
proved that electronic music was not merely blips and bloops. With
the help of Robert Moog and producer Rachel Elkind, she created real
music with a fresh sound.
This boxed set contains the original
S-OB recording, plus The Well-Tempered Synthesizer
(which includes selections by Monteverdi, Scarlatti, Handel, and
Bach), Switched-On Bach II, and finally, from 1979,
Switched-On Brandenburgs. Over the years, the albums were
released in different formats but never remastered for optimal sound
quality -- until now. Carlos recently regained rights to these
albums, and she spent months of painstaking restoration (including
rebuilding the original tape recorders) to take advantage of the
dynamic range available on CD. The result is simply breathtaking. The
sounds seem to spring from the speakers. Here we are, some 30 years
later, and these recordings still sound revolutionary.
As novel as the sounds are, Carlos's
interpretations are also genuinely bright and lyrical, especially
considering the tedious process with which she created and layered
the sounds. Garbed in Moog electronica, Bach's genius shines as
brilliantly as ever. Carlos sets the lively pieces dancing and imbues
the slower movements with nobility.
Two booklets are special features of
this box set. The first gathers together the entertaining liner notes
from the original albums, while the second 142-page illustrated book
delves into the music's history, the inner workings of the Moog units
and keyboards, the studio setup, and key participants in the
projects. Two tracks offer narration by Carlos and musical examples
of the composing process. The fourth CD contains an Enhanced CD
feature with high-resolution photographs, virtual wendycarlos.com
website, and a demo of an analog synthesizer. This definitive edition
illuminates an important chapter in the history of music -- and best
of all, it sounds better than ever.
--Peter
Manzi
(Another writer for New Age Voice, Carol Wright, has written this
review of
TH&H, and an excellent
interview with
Wendy.)
We just discovered this amusing
surprise, which mentions album one, from the
Switched-On Boxed Set, the only "classical album" included on their
list of twenty historic LP's:
The 20 albums that shaped
the future of music
BY RICHARD MARTIN AND MICHAELANGELO MATOS
The Seattle Weekly
WHILE MANY SO-CALLED Internet visionaries suggest that digital downloads will revive the single as the most popular music format, artists continue to set their sights on creating the perfect album. Since the dawn of rock and roll, many musicians have viewed the full-length record as a variant on the novel, either writing to a cohesive theme or happily stumbling across motifs as they plow through song after song.
In the process, artists have influenced one another through their albums, helping music evolve and new styles to blossom. MP3s make it easier to download and listen to single songs, but the album is hardly an endangered species. (It helps to remember that many wags predicted the death of magazines/newspapers/novels because of the Internet.)
We've compiled a list of the 20 albums that shaped the future of music, basing our decisions on their timelessness, influence, and reverberations.
1. Beach Boys, Pet
Sounds (Capitol, 1966)--From its groundbreaking arrangements
to its heartbreaking harmonies to its shockingly introspective
lyrics, this remains the standard for psychedelia, pop, and all
points between.
...
16. Wendy Carlos, Switched on Bach (CBS/Sony,
1968)--A sort of plug for her friend Bob Moog's new invention, this
interpretation of Bach masterworks caused a fury among purists, who
watched in horror as it became the first classical recording to sell
a million copies. The public embraced the warm sounds of the analog
synth, and the disc has taken on new levels of meaning as the Moog
has gone on to power the krautrock, electronica, and indie-rock
movements.
...
© Copyright 1999, The Seattle Weekly
A review of the S-O Boxed Set
sent via East Side Digital
I received your new Wendy Carlos
"Switched on Boxed Set"...
It sounds AWESOME!! These first four
albums from Wendy have always been classics in my book, and the great
job ESD did of remastering combines real history with technology....
I turned up the volume on my JBL studio monitors , and it sounded
like a moog would sound coming right out of my keyboard amp.... truly
breathtaking. I am part of Valley's Special Markets dept. ( in
Connecticut ), and I manage all the Library accounts . You can bet
I'll be pushing this selection in the next few months. It really is a
great "millennium" purchase, really putting several hundred years of
composing, performing , and technology all together into one very
experiential cd package .
I've done well selling "Tales", and the
new "Clockwork" is brilliant as well; it's great Wendy brought all
that together. (On a informative note, my bosses brother, Chris
Martirano from Kurzweil, gets credit on "Tales" for his assistance to
Wendy.) We are indeed fans, and look forward to some excellent sales
here. Great Job !!
Barry Konarik <BXK@valley-media.com>
An enthusiastic Review of the S-O Boxed Set sent us from Australia:
What a remarkable journey these recordings
have made, and the end result is nothing short of spectacular!
The 4 disks comprising the "Switched
on Boxed Set" come with two lusciously narrated booklets
describing the synthesizer technology used in the making, photographs
and other memorabilia. As for the recordings themselves, having
survived baking in ovens, the ravages of various CBS engineering
masters and the politics of the commercial record industry, they
appear here as 1st generation digital masters recorded in glorious
20-bit resolution by ESD.
Some restoration is mentioned and is
evident on a couple of the disks. My personal favourite of the
quartet, is The Well Tempered Synthesizer (W-TS), which I
believe represents the culmination and maturation of the disk which
was chronologically before it, the original "Switched On
Bach", or "The Electronic Bach". Switched on Bach II and the
Switched On Brandenbergs are less satisfying for me after hearing
W-TS, but interesting none the less.
Background hum and key clicking have
been kept to a minimum and there are rare occasions on all of the
disks (except Switched-on Brandenbergs, which was made much
later) of oscillator tuning drift. There are some occasions where the
oscillators are sharp, but they are never flat. The hum and
background noise level on the disks is nothing short of a miracle of
restoration by Wendy herself. The noise now on the ESD disks is no
worse than your average classical recording made in a Concert Hall.
It's certainly superior to the original vinyl titles from CBS.
The 20-bit Hi-D process has also
brought out nuances in tempo, volume, orchestration and track
placement that aren't apparent on the CBS releases. Octave doubling
of some parts is revealed for the first time, as are the details of
each "stop" or voice of the Moog. What I thought were electronic
clicks in several voices was actually the attack envelope of the
sound... very resolute!
There is only one thing that bothers me
about these disks, and it has nothing to do with either ESD or the
technology behind these milestones. It is that is in the Air of the
Handel Water Music on W-TS contains slow trills which start on
the lower of the two notes. In Baroque style it was uncommon to start
on anything but the top note. It's only a minor point and there may
have been a technical reason when the track was recorded, for this to
happen this way.
These disks are a fitting conclusion,
also a timely release, and in a strange way, a link to the Telarc
disk "Switched On Bach 2000", which is a hi-bit digital Dolby
ProLogic recording, featuring a re-orchestration and performance of
the 3rd Brandenberg Concerto rendered 30 years previously on SOB. All
that remains now for the "Switched On" recordings, is for them to be
transcribed into multichannel DVD-Audio from the recordings
originally recorded in 4 channels. Unfortunately, W-TS and
S-OB were originally mastered in stereo only, so DVD-Audio
will not benefit them greatly beyond even more resolute recording
than the 20-bit Hi-D process affords.
Beautifully packed and worth every
single cent if you're a Wendy Carlos fan. A proud milestone in
commercial electronic music. The rich sumptuous sounds of the
analogue Moog, and sensitive interpretations by Wendy, are something
to behold when presented this way.
Superior!
--Ivan Smith (<ivan@sigma.com.au>)
In 1968, keyboardist-composer Wendy Carlos
released Switched-On Bach, her best-selling LP featuring
baroque music performed on the Moog synthesizer. Carlos intended to
spread the gospel of electronic classical music through this quirky
release; instead, she sold more albums than Karlheinz Stockhausen
could ever dream of, released a few follow-ups, and paved the way for
Hot Butter's "Popcorn." Carlos has since become well known for more
than just these wacky classical interpretations--she recorded the
soundtracks to A Clockwork Orange and Tron and released
new works--but the "Switched-Ons" are the goofy synthesizer
recordings that most of us still remember.
No less than Glenn Gould proclaimed,
"Carlos's realization of the Fourth Brandenburg Concerto is, to put
it bluntly, the finest performance of any of the Brandenburgs--live,
canned, or intuited--I've ever heard." We're not sure what he meant
by that, but if you have half the enthusiasm Gould did for this
music, check out this box set. All four of Carlos's
baroque-gone-space-age LPs from the '70s are included
here--Switched-On Bach, The Well-Tempered Synthesizer,
Switched-On Bach II, and Switched-On
Brandenburgs--completely remastered in all their stereophonic
glory and containing bonus tracks (the fourth CD is even enhanced for
use on your computer). The liner notes weigh in at around 150 pages,
filled with photos and background information even on the evolution
of Carlos's studio (you get the original LP notes in their entirety,
too). The music? It's hilarious, absolutely riveting, and--whether
Scarlatti, Bach, Handel, or Monteverdi--played successfully by Carlos
and her battery of special effects. For the lover of the eclectic or
the classical fan who knows how to let loose, this is a box set to
get. -
-Jason Verlinde
Some mini-reviews of the S-O Boxed Set:
Switched-On Brilliance
Review by: Gary Jacobs (GAJ77702@aol.com)
from San Bernardino, Calif.
For fans of Wendy Carlos, this compilation of early synthesizer works is a godsend. In these groundbreaking and in some ways still unequaled recordings, Carlos showed the Moog indeed was a musical instrument of great range and nuance. The remastering is impressive when compared to earlier CDs and, of course, LPs. Get one for yourself, another for a friend.
A beautiful gift from Wendy to you
Review by: Mona , from Capitol Hill, Seattle
What this box set proves, once and for all, is that Wendy Carlos's synthesizer recordings of Bach and others are no novelty: they're great performances in their own right, often better than those using traditional instruments. And what could serve her work better than this lavish, more-than-complete set? Get one for yourself and one for each of your enlightened friends. You'll be glad you did. Way to go, Wendy!
Better Than Ever
A longer rmini eview by: Ian R Lewis from Salt Lake City,
Utah
Wow! Switched-On Bach still has the
magic, after all these years...!
I doubt you could find any compilation
anywhere that would even come close to the value that this set
presents. Newly remastered versions of all four of Carlos's
incredible baroque Moog transcriptions, all of the original liner
notes, reproductions of the original covers, extra audio tracks with
outtakes from the original albums, and a gargantuan booklet of new
notes--plus nearly 35 MEGABYTES of material accessible from a CD-ROM
drive. Carlos includes a snapshot of her entire website, pictures of
her studio, even the MIDI source for the entire SOB 2000 album
(which updated the original SOB selections). All this for less than
sixty bucks!
Value isn't the only point in this set's
favor. This is THE seminal work of electronic music, the
recording that launched the entire genre into the public eye.
Carlos's orchestration makes classical music fun to listen to
again--even if you've heard Bach, Handel, Scarlatti, and Monteverdi
hundreds of times, you've never heard them like this. Creative use of
stereo and careful attention to synthesizer programming ensure that
every part of every piece is distinct and special. You literally
cannot do these things with a traditional orchestra. This isn't a
replacement for acoustic performances of the classics, but it is an
indispensable companion to them.
Fans of pure electronic music shouldn't
be disappointed, either. These discs are the origin of "phat."
Whether you like New Age or Hip-Hop, the sounds and textures in this
set should really move you. Carlos worked more than a decade before
the TB-303 and the TR-808, but you'll recognize a lot of the sounds
in these albums anyway--because they were so good that they became
widely imitated instant classics.
I wish I could come up with a list of
negatives for this set, but I honestly can't. It's true that I like
some tracks more than others, but I can't in truth say that any of
them are bad. This set is a must buy.
SWITCHED ON BOXED SET -- An Electronic Shock
This brief review is from bn.com
When Wendy Carlos released "Switched-On Bach" in 1968, she sent an electric shock through the music world. Young people thrilled to her synthesized interpretations of Bach's greatest hits, while classical fans got their first tantalizing taste of electronica. This set includes all of Carlos's brilliant baroque recreations, painstakingly remastered by the moog master herself.
Wonderful!
Review by: Alan Clifton from Leeds,
England
Just as Bach's Brandenburg concertos remain
fine examples of music written for a small ensemble, so Wendy's
realisations of this music, amongst others, remain fine (dare I say
the finest?) examples of synthesizer orchestration. Listen to the
superb performances, to the way the melody dances around the stereo
image, to how the synthesizer's sounds change every couple of bars
&endash; sometimes every couple of notes &endash; in a way that
complements the music perfectly.
The quality of these recordings is
equally fine &endash; it's hard to believe they are all twenty to
thirty years old. Wendy's efforts to present the original recordings
in the best possible form have paid off spectacularly well. Round
this off with the beautifully produced books giving details of the
music and the Moog synthesizer together with the enhanced CD-ROM
section on CD 4 and you have something no-one who enjoys Bach,
Wendy's music, or synthesizers should be without.
An amazing experience
Review by: Dan Roche (jdr2u@alumni.virginia.edu)
from Chicago, Illinois
In 1990, back when I was 14, and an extreme
electronics enthusiast, I would spend hundreds of hours in my
father's shop, tinkering with different ways to create and design
electronic musical instruments. I'm dead serious, this is what I did.
Anyway, one day my father comes to me with an old, dusty copy of
"Switched on Bach." "You might get something out of this," he says,
so I dig up our old turntable and hook it up to my bedroom hi-fi
system.
My first playing of "SOB" will be
forever etched in my mind as one of the all-time biggest musical
experiences I am to have. This was all the technical, mathematical
electronic theory I had cut my teeth on, merged with the most
beautiful music ever composed. From that point forward, and onto a
scholarship in Electrical Engineering years later, solderless
breadboards and easels would seem the same to me. Such was the power
of that scratchy old record.
So now I'm much older, having just
received the "Switched on Boxed Set" a few days ago, only having
given it a few complete listenings, eager to hear it again, and
again, and begin digging back into the music that changed my life
almost ten years ago.
Let me just say that this is an absolute
gift to any Bach enthusiast, giving these absolute standards a new
interpretation through the glorious old (well NOW it is) Moog
synthesizer. Most friends for whom I played the original "SOB"
thought it was a gimmick, or Moog advertisement. Maybe this
remastering and repackaging will help give it the credit it deserves,
as well as open new doors for 14-year old electronic dorks
worldwide.
For all those who would pretend to
conduct with a live soldering iron, let this collection be a gift to
you.
Now here's a glowing review by
the same Robert Carlberg who's sent our site many thoughtful
letters,
and written several intelligent and enthusiastic reviews for the
first three ESD CD's:
The Definitive Set
Review by: Robert
Carlberg (rcarlberg@aol.com), from
Seattle
At long last, Switched-On Bach the
way it was meant to be heard. Glorious!!!
First Carlos had to reclaim her masters
from Columbia. Then she had to digitally clean up and restore the (in
some cases) 30-year old tapes. Next she had to design a presentation
worthy of these groundbreaking albums. It took a few years and a ton
of work, but the result is (dare I say it?) worth the wait.
Carlos is to be commended for
undertaking this project. Many artists can't be bothered with work
done early in their career, no matter how popular it remains. Carlos
herself has moved light-years beyond these early transcriptions in
her recent work (see "Tales of Heaven & Hell" or
"Beauty in the Beast" to see how far).
But they were groundbreaking albums,
single-handedly moving Bob Moog's cumbersome contraption into the
musical arena, changing the face of popular music. And they still
stand up surprisingly well musically, too. Since Columbia (whose
commitment to the bottom line prevented it) was unable to do them
justice, it fell on Wendy to do the job proper.
And oh, what a job she has done! This is
first class all the way, from sonics to graphics to layout and tons
of extras! This is a dream package, not an expense spared, well worth
the small investment.
Own a piece of history!