Friday, July 10, 2009

WALTER CARLOS & FRIENDS - A CLOCKWORK ORANGE SOUNDTRACK (1971)


No, it's not a new album from The Adicts. Look closer. This is the genuine article, the original soundtrack from everyone's favorite sci-fi/mind control/gangland/Burgess adaptation A Clockwork Orange. Containing well-worn public domain pieces such as Rossini's "The Thieving Magpie" and Elgar's "Pomp And Circumstance", the real star here is Walter Carlos' analog synhesizer, which he used to re-create the music of Ludwig van Beethoven and give Orange its most memorable pieces.
Carlos' story is an interesting one. Befriending Robert Moog in the late 60's, he soon became the foremost artist in the analog synth movement, turning out gold and platinum albums based on the work of classical composers such as Switched-On Bach in 1968 and The Well-Tempered Synthesizer in 1969. Immediately following the release of the Clockwork Orange soundtrack, Carlos underwent gender reassignment surgery and became Wendy Carlos, although she wasn't credited as such on a record until 1979. Wendy went on to work with Kubrick again on The Shining, as well as turning out one of my favorite soundtracks of all time, Disney's Tron (keep an eye out for that one soon). She currently works out of a home studio in New York (which she surrounded with a Faraday cage to keep out radio and television interference) and is also known as an accomplished solar eclipse photographer.
If you dig Carlos' stuff, you should go back and check out Isao Tomita as well.

Track listing:

1. Title Music From A Clockwork Orange - Walter/Wendy Carlos
2. The Thieving Magpie (Abridged) - Gioacchino Rossini
3. Theme From A Clockwork Orange (Beethoviana) - Walter/Wendy Carlos
4. Ninth Symphony, Second Movement (Abridged) - Ludwig van Beethoven
5. March From A Clockwork Orange (Ninth Symphony, Fourth Movement, Abridged) Ludwig van Beethoven - arranged by Walter/Wendy Carlos
6. William Tell Overture (Abridged) - Gioacchino Rossini
7. Pomp And Circumstance March No. I - Sir Edward Elgar
8. Pomp And Circumstance March No. IV (Abridged) - Sir Edward Elgar
9. Timesteps (Excerpt) - Walter/Wendy Carlos
10. Overture To The Sun - Terry Tucker
11. I Want To Marry A Lighthouse Keeper - Erika Eigen
12. William Tell Overture (Abridged) - Gioacchino Rossini
13. Suicide Scherzo (Ninth Symphony, Second Movement, Abridged) - Ludwig van Beethoven - arranged by Walter/Wendy Carlos
14. Ninth Symphony, Fourth Movement (Abridged) - Ludwig van Beethoven
15. Singin' In The Rain - A. Freed, N. Brown - performed by Gene Kelly

Download HERE
Purchase HERE

Below: Alternate cover art for the "Carlos only" version of the soundtrack, which I find much more pleasing to the eye.

2 comments:

RyGar said...

Thanks, I have had the gatefold sleeve for years, but somebody jacked the record from within. This should be nice for a little of the old ultraviolence.

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