Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2017 17:02:39 GMT
Walter/Wendy Carlos' Clockwork Orange - The Complete Score CBS-Trans-Electronic Music Productions, Inc. 73059, S (LP) East Side Digital ESD 81362 (CD)
To start on a personal note and reference this piece of music and its place in my life, I would have to go back to the 1960s, so please forgive the preamble. My father had started his mid life crisis about '66/67 and did the normal things men did if they were successful in those days. A life long academic painter, he started doing abstract and pop art, he bought a sports car (Triumph GT6) and, as classical music fan, the Dansette went and the first HiFi came into the house. Later he got a series of mistresses and dumped my mum, but that’s another story.
My brother De, his step son, worked in Carnaby Street and having gone from being a mod to a beatnik finally ended up a hippie. He left the shop "Lord John" he set up "Youre Shoppe" in Islington’s Camden Passage, then the hippest boutique in London. My dad wanted to prove he was “Hip” too and bought two modern records, the first was "Sgt. Peppers" and something called “Switched on Bach” by Walter Carlos. I was blown away by the synthesiser rendition and it would be fair to say it was one of the things that started my audio and musical journey. I was also into film and photography and having read the Anthony Burgess book of "A Clockwork Orange" I went to the premiere of the Kubrick film.
On first hearing the sound track however, while blown away by synthesiser tracks, I found that the use of orchestral versions of some tracks jarred somewhat. I still think the film is a masterpiece but....
Some time later I heard the full score, as envisaged by Carlos, had been released but I was unable to get it at the time. Happily a few years ago I found a mint copy in a charity shop in Aylesbury. When I first played it, I realised that it was far more powerful than the version used in the film. It starts with the piece "Timesteps", a Carlos composition that is full of brooding menace, it sets the scene for the rest of the suite. This is a sweeping fantasia full of textures, effects, synthesised voices and more. Interesting to note that there is a motif of a ticking clock, audibly exaggerated, which predate the use of a similar motif in Pink Floyd’s “Time” on "Dark Side of the Moon".
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I can’t give a Spotify playlist for the work as Wendy Carlos has opted not to be ripped off on royalties and pay per play, so you will need to play your Fuzzy Warbles from something physical. Check out Discogs.
To start on a personal note and reference this piece of music and its place in my life, I would have to go back to the 1960s, so please forgive the preamble. My father had started his mid life crisis about '66/67 and did the normal things men did if they were successful in those days. A life long academic painter, he started doing abstract and pop art, he bought a sports car (Triumph GT6) and, as classical music fan, the Dansette went and the first HiFi came into the house. Later he got a series of mistresses and dumped my mum, but that’s another story.
My brother De, his step son, worked in Carnaby Street and having gone from being a mod to a beatnik finally ended up a hippie. He left the shop "Lord John" he set up "Youre Shoppe" in Islington’s Camden Passage, then the hippest boutique in London. My dad wanted to prove he was “Hip” too and bought two modern records, the first was "Sgt. Peppers" and something called “Switched on Bach” by Walter Carlos. I was blown away by the synthesiser rendition and it would be fair to say it was one of the things that started my audio and musical journey. I was also into film and photography and having read the Anthony Burgess book of "A Clockwork Orange" I went to the premiere of the Kubrick film.
On first hearing the sound track however, while blown away by synthesiser tracks, I found that the use of orchestral versions of some tracks jarred somewhat. I still think the film is a masterpiece but....
Some time later I heard the full score, as envisaged by Carlos, had been released but I was unable to get it at the time. Happily a few years ago I found a mint copy in a charity shop in Aylesbury. When I first played it, I realised that it was far more powerful than the version used in the film. It starts with the piece "Timesteps", a Carlos composition that is full of brooding menace, it sets the scene for the rest of the suite. This is a sweeping fantasia full of textures, effects, synthesised voices and more. Interesting to note that there is a motif of a ticking clock, audibly exaggerated, which predate the use of a similar motif in Pink Floyd’s “Time” on "Dark Side of the Moon".
I can’t give a Spotify playlist for the work as Wendy Carlos has opted not to be ripped off on royalties and pay per play, so you will need to play your Fuzzy Warbles from something physical. Check out Discogs.
