Walter Carlos, Johann Sebastian Bach
Switched-On Bach (LP)
LabelColumbia MasterworksGenreExperimental
Out of stock
Tracked express shipping from Italy, no customs or import VAT in the EU. Shipping costs
condition (record/cover): VG (some surface noise) / VG (general wear)
Released October 1968. Ten Bach pieces, each recorded note-by-note on an eight-track machine because the Moog modular was monophonic. Roughly 1,100 working hours of overdubbing. Carlos and Benjamin Folkman played the parts; Rachel Elkind produced from the West 88th Street brownstone studio she shared with Carlos.
The album reached Billboard 200 #10, topped the Classical chart from 1969 to 1972, sold a million by 1974, went platinum in 1986. Three Grammys. Robert Moog's sales department was overwhelmed within months. The original 1968 sleeve (model in Bach costume seated at a Moog whose headphones were plugged into the wrong jack) was quickly replaced with a standing version after Carlos and Elkind complained. The Third Brandenburg track, which Moog played at the 1968 AES conference, is the moment the engineering establishment realised the instrument was no longer experimental. Reissues post-1979 credit Wendy Carlos.
Release notes
1970-85 Olive green / orange "Columbia Masterworks" labels. This version is a 3rd state front cover that includes "Walter Carlos Performing On The Moog Synthesizer". Similar to [url=https://www.discogs.com/release/5470019-Walter-Carlos-Switched-On-Bach]Santa Maria pressing reissue with 3rd state cover[/url], except that release includes durations on labels and this sub does not. Track A7 and B1 include: "(From Book l Of "The Well-Tempered Clavier")". Liner shows: "Electronic Realizations…
| A1 | Sinfonia To Cantata No. 29 | 3:20 | |
| A2 | Air On A G String | 2:27 | |
| A3 | Two-Part Invention In F Major | 0:40 | |
| A4 | Two-Part Invention In B-flat Minor | 1:30 | |
| A5 | Two-Part Invention In D Minor | 0:55 | |
| A6 | Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring | 2:56 | |
| A7 | Prelude And Fugue No. 7 In E-Flat Major | 7:07 | |
| B1 | Prelude And Fugue No. 2 In C Minor | 2:43 | |
| B2 | Chorale Prelude "Wachet Auf" | 3:37 | |
| Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 In G Major | |||
| B3 | First Movement | 6:35 | |
| B4 | Second Movement | 2:50 | |
| B5 | Third Movement | 5:05 | |
- Johann Sebastian Bach
- Composed By
- Benjamin Folkman
- Liner Notes, Performer [With The Assistant Of]
- Rachel Elkind
- Liner Notes
- Robert Moog
- Liner Notes
- Walter Carlos
- Performer [Electronic Realizations And Performances By], Synthesizer [Moog]
- Horn/Griner
- Photography By
- Trans-Electronic Music Productions, Inc.
- Producer
