Well-Tempered Synthesizer [Bonus Tracks] (1969)

Pressed for a sequel to Switched-On Bach, the unexpectedly hot-selling breakthrough album for the synthesizer, Carlos temporarily shelved plans to move out of the 18th century and instead came up with an album that is in some ways even better than its famous predecessor. Her instrument rack had grown larger and more flexible and her technical abilities even sharper in the year since SOB came out -- and the improvements are audible in the thicker harmonies and more sophisticated timbres, all without losing the zest and ... Read More

Pressed for a sequel to Switched-On Bach, the unexpectedly hot-selling breakthrough album for the synthesizer, Carlos temporarily shelved plans to move out of the 18th century and instead came up with an album that is in some ways even better than its famous predecessor. Her instrument rack had grown larger and more flexible and her technical abilities even sharper in the year since SOB came out -- and the improvements are audible in the thicker harmonies and more sophisticated timbres, all without losing the zest and experimental zeal of the earlier record. Here, she revisits J.S. Bach and imaginatively translates the music of Monteverdi, Handel, and especially Domenico Scarlatti into the electronic medium. Excerpts from Monteverdi's "Orfeo" and "1610 Vespers" serve as the gateway and closing benediction, respectively, to this collection, and four Scarlatti keyboard sonatas are given dazzling treatments (the sonata in G became well-known in the '90s on a Christmas TV commercial). There is a mini-suite from Handel's "Water Music" at the center of the album, and the densely orchestrated yet still dancing treatment of Bach's "Brandenburg Concerto No. 4" serves as a signpost as to how far Carlos had come in only a year. Strangely, this album -- which sold nearly as well as SOB upon release -- wasn't transferred onto CD until 1999 when it came out as part of an expensive boxed set, and it had to wait until 2001 to be available separately. Carlos engineered the transfer herself; the results are richer-sounding and in softer focus than the LP version. Most illuminating is the bonus track in which Carlos resurrects and introduces several failed experiments for the album from the vaults (including a long-lost fragment of a fifth Scarlatti sonata), plus a brief look ahead at A Clockwork Orange. Once again, East Side Digital has done a first-class job with a piece of the long-neglected Carlos catalog; now, let's hope they eventually issue a remixed multi-channel version on DVD audio. ~ Richard S. Ginell, Rovi Read Less

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2001, East Side Digit UPC: 021561816121 CD See All