Wendy Carlos

topic posted Tue, November 18, 2003 - 9:31 AM by  Wendell
Have you guys ever heard her album "Beauty In The Beast"? I'm quite sure any of you who have not would like it a great deal...
posted by:
Wendell
SF Bay Area
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    Re: Wendy Carlos

    Tue, November 18, 2003 - 7:40 PM
    It's a must-have album. Includes the first use in a widely distributed CD of nonoctave tunings. The title track combines Carlos Alpha tuning and Carlos Beta tuning, and is really a beautiful and mystical composition. Carlos talked about her process of discovering Alpha and Beta in a Keyboard article, and also in a Computer Music Journal article.

    Karlheinz Stockholm (sp?) did some work in a nonoctave tuning (25th root of 5) many years before, as did Heinz Bolhen (13th root of 3) and Kees van Prooijen. All these works by these composers, while worth hearing, are a bit more academic or experimental sounding.

    Carlos' composition doesn't sound academic at all, but like an organic work that came from the ancient traditions of some incomprehensible alien culture. It is something you can listen to a thousand times and not grow weary of.
    • Re: Wendy Carlos

      Tue, November 18, 2003 - 9:44 PM
      Indeed, XJ ... One of the things I always stress to others when listening to this album is how you can find yourself complelely immersed in the sounds... How something so "alien" can, in time, sound so natural. Most strange of all is how you come to realize that so few have explored this terrain... And how, despite the fact that it literally opens up an entirely new world of musical innovation, so few dare break conventional 12-tone barriers.

      Ah well... Eventually they'll figure it out. ;-)

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