Customer Reviews

Switched on Bach 2000

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I'm not quite sure exactly what it is that some reviewers dislike so much about this album. No, it is not "Switched On Bach." Would it have been worth recording if it were identical to the album Carlos did 25 years earlier? Times change, artists mature, and technology marches on.

The principle change -- aside from the switch to digital synthesis -- is Carlos's use of "authentic" tunings popular in Bach's time. The result is that the music does sound different -- less bright, more subdued, with richer harmonies. It doesn't sound the way we are used to hearing it, but most of what we hear now is based on contemporary performance practice. If anything, the works on this album probably sound more like they did in Bach's day. Alright, synthesizers didn't exist back then, but neither did a number of modern instruments that Bach's music is routinely played on today.

The performances are still good -- in fact, probably better than those on the original album. Modern technology allows a musician to "clean up" errors and improve raw performances in ways that simply weren't possible back in 1968. There's no tuning drift, no tape hiss, no extraneous 60Hz line noise, and no performance errors.

This album doesn't deserve the low marks some reviewers have been giving it. If it suffers in comparison with the original "Switched On Bach," it only suffers because it *is* different. Again, what's the point of doing exactly the same thing 25 years later? If you are after the original experience, then the recently issued "Switched On Boxed Set" is what you want. Still, this CD does make an interesting comparison and companion piece. The music is well done, and certainly doesn't deserve the bashing it's gotten here.

This is one of my favorite recordings, and I am astounded at the July 8th statements. Just to make certain, I pulled out my LPs and listened to the original analog Switched On Bach. It was just as good as I remembered, and I hadn't worn out the grooves by using a lousy player. Like all LPs, there is a measureable loss in bass due to compression and reconstruction, but the music is still there to charm. Then I played my own Switched On 2000, and found it also a sheer delight. But it is a digital version that Carlos has created anew, and I enjoy this new version just as much as the analog. They are two different takes on the same Bach masters. Incidentially, the analog was created by Walter Carlos, and the digital by Wendy Carlos. I suggest ordering the "W.Carlos Switched-On Boxed Set" if one wishes to compare the analog with the digital. This set was taken from the long lost master tapes, and is superior to my LPs.

Totius Vobis Frontem Tabernae Sopionibus Scribum.

Do yourself a favor, and get BOTH the original album (the new Switched-On Boxed Set is a real bargain with all that's on it) and this 25th anniversary retro look back. They're different in many ways, just like Genn Gould's two versions of The Goldberg Variations: one young and cheerful the other rich and deeper and more introspective.

Of course, if nostalgia is your only motive, only the original will satisfy you. But that's okay, it doesn't mean this much more recent visit is no good, as some reactionary listeners claim. It is darker, sure, but the special tunings make it all sound very smooth and rich. I love them both!

It was interesting to read through the comments on the Amazon site regarding this album. I suppose that reviewers are right to complain, in that if you have the 1968 SOB, you pretty much already have synthesized versions of almost everything on the CD. If you don't listen too carefully, most of the pieces sound pretty much the same. If you truly love the original SOB, you should get the 4-CD box that is now available that includes the performances in excellent sound. You may, however, also want to get this CD which uses more up-to-date synthesizer technology to the pieces, along with somewhat different interpretation. To my ear, they are somewaht more mellow and less "bouncy" than the original CD that was among other things trying to show off the synthesizers of the day.

I certainly saw (or heard!) nothing wrong with this recording. I think buying is a lot like buying different perforances of the piece of music by the same performer (say Glenn Gould playing the Goldberg Variations) or even the same piece of music by different performers. There is no one right way to perform any piece of music. Wendy Carlos has not tried to exactly recreate either the early performance (Why would she have?) or its sounds but rather to provide an updated reinterpretation with new synthesizer tunings. My recommendation is that if like these pieces in synthesized form, then get BOTH CDs -- they are complements and not substitutes. One thing about the new CD that I found very interesting was the program notes that explained a lot the technical and performing changes (e.g., the tunings) that went into the CD.

Compared to the original release of "Switched on Bach", this recording may sound a bit bland in comparison - the tone colors are more subdued and the interpretations are not as wildly energetic.

However, the intention of this recording is different from the original "Switched on Bach" - the original S.O.B. was mostly a showcase for the Moog synthesizer - and a great showcase it was indeed. In this new release, I think Wendy's goal is to perofrm a realistic interpretation of Bach, treating the synthesizer as a serious musical instrument. So this work is more Bachian, and less flashy and experimental.

This new recording stands well on it's own, and should be appreciated on it's own terms, leaving behind the ghost of the old S.O.B. CD's.

As someone who has been a Carlos fan from the very beginning, I honestly would have to dissuade potential buyers from plunking down any cash for this very uninspired album. It is enough to make you wish MIDI had never been invented. Most of the voices sound like the same canned stuff you get on any keyboard from K-Mart, with the addition of some very annoying tuning. I get the feeling this recording was dashed off in a matter of weeks (that's what it sounds like, anyway). Pass this one by and get the CD version of the original S.O.B., which has lost none of its freshness, originality and musicality in over 30 years!

This album lacks the youthful vitality of the original.

To the 21st centuary ear it sounds a lot like a bunch of midi files. Its a bit sterile in its interpretation.

I still play it regularly, but would have preferred to be playig the original.

I've read some confusion about Walter Carlos being the listed performer on Switched On Bach and Wendy Carlos being the performer on Switched On Bach 2000. Let me clear this up for anyone that might be confused or that won't consider the new 2000 version because of it not being Walter. They are both one in the same. In 1972, Walter Carlos underwent gender reassignment therapy. The last release to be credited to Walter Carlos was By Request (1975). The first release as Wendy was Switched-On Brandenburgs (1979). Carlos's first public appearance after her gender transition was in an interview in the May 1979 issue of Playboy magazine, a decision she would come to regret because of the unwelcome publicity it brought to her personal life. On her official site, her transition is discussed in an essay stating that she values her privacy on the subject.

It's not inconceivable to me that someone who has spent a lifetime listening to a broad range of music could prefer Carlos's debut recording of Switched-On Bach to the collection, but from any objective viewpoint it IS indefensible. Not only has Carlos brought to bear a quarter century's booming tech innovation, but also a quarter century's musical experience from a unique vantage point atop the under-examined world of classical electronica.

A well-read friend of mine and musical omnivore was given the recent Wendy Carlos re-interpretation of Clockwork Orange to replace his lost Lp of the original soundtrack. His response was nearly ballistic. The original soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange was a dear old friend that had seen him through many a tough time, and he was intimately acquainted with every edge of every sine wave on it. And he missed those particulars so sorely, it was as though he'd been reacquainted with his high school sweetheart only to find she'd undergone reassignment surgery.

I try to keep this anecdote in mind when I read an unflattering review of S-OB 2000. I play music, and I know it in the way a dentist knows tooth enamel. I am as susceptible to a cherished smile as the next guy, but I do know teeth. Beautiful teeth.

The same tracks as in the first album but not with the same sounds, it does not bring anything new, why have wanted sought a sound more close to a baroque orchestra with far too much reverberation, whereas the advantage of the synthetizer is to be able to allow the listening of the voices individually and to more often change the sound. The first version was so much finer. Very disappointed I regret having it to buy and I do not advise it with anybody. Is it possible Wendy CARLOS does that so bad album ?

Les mêmes plages que dans le premier album, mais avec des sons différents, ça n'a aucun intérêt, ça n'apporte rien de nouveau, pourquoi avoir cherché à se rapprocher du son d'un orchestre et avec beaucoup trop de réverbération alors que l'intérêt du synthétiseur est de faciliter l'écoute individuelle des voix et de pouvoir changer les timbre à volonté ? La première version était beaucoup plus fine. Je suis très déçu et je regrette d'avoir acheter cet album et je ne le conseille à personne. Est-ce possible que Wendy CARLOS fasse un album aussi mauvais ?