Wendy Carlos' Switched-On Bach Turns 50 in Echoes Podcast
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It was 1968 when Wendy Carlos took her Moog synthesizer and applied it to the contrapuntal music of Johann Sebastian Bach. The album was called Switched-On Bach and it changed the shape of modern music forever. It took synthesizers out of the world of sound effects and the avant-garde and into the mass market. Switched-On Bach was the herald of the future and made Robert Moog’s invention synonymous with synthesizer. We celebrate the album’s 50th Anniversary with Wendy Carlos in the Echoes Podcast
Here’s an article on Four Switched-On Masterworks by Wendy Carlos.
I am such a Wendy Carlos fan, having owned and played her albums for years. Your podcast is fun but at 15 minutes only opens the door a crack. What of all all the other material from the interviews over the years that you mentioned? She deserves much more. An hour would only be a start.
TIA,
-Jim Cook
Westborough, Massachusetts
We agree. Perhaps sometime in the future.
I would also really enjoy hearing about all of her work, her insights, her kitties, and even her struggles with her gender identity. She really is a genius and her genius needs to be recognized.
Wendy hasn’t updated her website in quite a long time, and I haven’t seen anything from her quoted or published for a while. Does anyone know if she’s okay?
Wendy is fine. She’s enduring the usual things that happen when you’re about to be 79.
Glad to hear she is doing alright. Just last week, before I saw your podcast, I had randomly listened to her recording of Peter and the Wolf.
John, do you know how I might get a short personal letter to Wendy, just to thank her for enriching my experience of music since childhood?
First time I have listened to the Echoes Podcast, really enjoyed it.. So interested in the sound design and creation process of this and Wendy’s other work.
Thanks!
Hi John,
Big fan of this! My name’s Archie and I work at On The Corner, a documentary production company. We are currently in production of a new documentary series all about the year 1971. Based loosely on David Hepworth’s book, 1971: Never a Dull Moment, at the heart of it the idea is to explore the relationship between the music and what was going on politically that year. One of the stories we’re featuring from that year is Clockwork Orange. For this sequence I’ve been looking for recordings of Wendy Carlos, who I understand you’ve interviewed extensively, and was wondering whether the film or her groundbreaking work on it’s soundtrack ever came up in your conversations? Would be very interested to hear them, if so, with a view to licensing them.
Why not call up Wendy? She has a website with email contact info.
Her website, wendycarlos.com, contains a link on the first page, “Write Wendy”.
Thanks. I’ve seen it and have doubts as to its currency. The site hasn’t changed for about a decade.