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Walter Carlos Biography |
Wendy Carlos (born Walter Carlos, November 14, 1939) American composer and electronic musician. Carlos was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Wendy Carlos was one of the first famous performers of electronic music using synthesisers. Her first recordings were released under her birth name - being a transsexual woman, she changed her name to Wendy Carlos.
She underwent sexual reassignment surgery in 1972. The last release to be credited to her old name was "By Request" (1975). The first as Wendy was "Switched-On Brandenburgs" (1979).
"Switched-On Bach" was perhaps the first album to attempt the use of synthesizers as an alternative to an orchestra; having assisted Robert Moog in the development of his first commercially available synthesizers, she was able to pioneer the technology, which was significantly more complex and difficult to use at the time. "Switched-On Bach" became the best-selling classical album of all time.
1986's "Beauty In the Beast" saw Wendy Carlos experimenting with extreme alternate tunings; one scale she invented for the album featured 144 notes per octave. In the early 2000's, most of her catalogue was remastered.
Discography:
Switched-on Bach (1968)
The Well-Tempered Synthesizer (1969)
Sonic Seasonings (1972)
A Clockwork Orange (soundtrack) (1972)
Switched-on Bach II (1974)
By Request (1975)
Switched-on Brandenburgs (1979)
The Shining: Score Selections (soundtrack) (1980) (no longer available)
Tron (soundtrack) (1982)
Digital Moonscapes (1984)
Beauty In the Beast (1986)
Land of the Midnight Sun (1986) (available on the Sonic Seasonings reissue)
Secrets of Synthesis (1987)
Peter and the Wolf (1988) (with "Weird Al" Yankovic)
Switched-On Bach 2000 (1992)
Tales of Heaven and Hell (1998)
Switched-On Boxed Set (1999)
Woundings (soundtrack) (2004) (not yet released; from 1998) |
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| Walter Carlos Resources |
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