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Music : Sonic Seasonings
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Sonic Seasonings by: Wendy Carlos List Price: £14.99 CD-Charts Price: £11.99 You Save: £3.00 (20%)Prices subject to change. |
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Binding: Audio CD EAN: 0021561813724 Format: Double CD Label: East Side Digital Manufacturer: East Side Digital Number Of Discs: 2 Publisher: East Side Digital Release Date: March 14, 2003 Studio: East Side Digital Sales Rank: 90988 MPN: 618137 Disc 1: Disc 2: Related Items:
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Editorial Review: From Amazon.com: Before there was ambient music, in a time before the New Age, there was Wendy Carlos's Sonic Seasonings, a double LP released in 1972. Taking the form of Antonio Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, Carlos orchestrated four side-long soundscapes designed, according to producer Rachel Elkind, to be "part of the decor." Using only her Moog synthesizer and environmental sounds, Carlos created prototypical ambient music, predating Brian Eno's similar work by a few years. Carlos weaves gentle, often reedy synthesizer melodies through chirping birds on "Spring," phase-shifted church organ drones across crystalline bells and wind on "Winter," and she seems to simulate an alien space landing on "Summer," mimicking nature with her synthesizer. An added treat on this special double CD is a 40-minute, unreleased, two-part suite from 1986 called "Land of the Midnight Sun." Using her Synergy synthesizers, Carlos orchestrates slow-motion melodies and overlapping minimalist layers that recall Steve Roach's "Structures from Silence." Sonic Seasonings is the first wave of a batch of Wendy Carlos reissues. While many of Carlos's classical, "Switched-On" orchestrations have an antique, dated charm, this original composition sounds fresh and current. In attempting a music that wouldn't draw attention to itself, Carlos achieved a prescient work of subtlety and depth on Sonic Seasonings. --John Diliberto Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Sheer brillianceWhen I first heard this album in 1972 I was amazed. The reason I'd never heard anything like it was that back then there really was nothing else like it. Since then we've had Eno's ambient electronic music and a host of other, similar things which resemble some aspects of Sonic Seasonings, but in 1972 this was totally groundbreaking. Back then most of didn't even know what a synthesizer was. I certainly didn't. Now I can find my way around the Moog modular Wendy Carlos used on this album, but the music sounds as fresh as it did originally. Time has only made it more and more clear how skilled Wendy was on her early Moog albums. Sonic Seasonings was originally a double album on vinyl, with one side each devoted ... Read More: Rating: - A Classic in the genreFirstly, this is not an album that appeals to most listeners. It isn't supposed to be a mass-market consumer goodie. Remember when this was made and think back (if you were born then) to what else was around at the time. 1972 - the US was only just on the Moon and their data processing hardware would embarrass an automobile today. Now - listen again. This was stream-of-consciousness stuff to me 35 years ago. It still is. Never mind if the technology is old-hat, the music of the spheres (OK, the Seasons) is just as evocative and emotive now as it was fresh on the reel. On this CD, the added "Bonus Tracks" are from a later period of Carlos' work, and should convince any sceptic that there is a wealth of creative talent here. ... Read More: Rating:  - The Creative CarlosWendy/Walter Carlos is known as one of the pioneers of electronic music. Best known for the highly sucessful arrangements of classical orchestral/choral music, ie Bach, Beethoven, Monteverdi etc, Carlos's roots are in the far more esoteric area of the Avant Garde. Sonic Seasonings represents a milestone in the application of 'modern', at the time, equipment and techniques. It illustrates the potential which the advances offered and, unfortunately, have being sacrificed to the pursuit of commercial gain. Exploring the leading edge of timbre and rhythmn, don't expect easy 'melodic' rewards, it is a masterpiece of the Avant Garde/Ambient gerne. It shows the roots of Carlos's later, and in my opinion, ... Read More: Rating:  - Electronic cliches seasoned with cheap spicesI really expected better of Walter/Wendy Carlos. It was a mistake buying this album. It's a mix wallowing in breaking surf, twittering birds, wind and thunder interrupted by the odd electronic durge. There is no sense of musical structure, which is surprising given the excellent interpretations in Switched on Bach. I find more depth in some of the free electronic music available on the web. Rating: - If only all electronica sounded this good.Thankfully, this is not an Moog-style realisation of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" but something more interesting and challenging. The original vinyl version was released back in 1972, shortly after Carlos had created her electronic score for "A Clockwork Orange". "Sonic Seasonings" is not very much like "Clockwork", although some "Timesteps"-style motifs are used. "Sonic Seasonings" uses "musique concrete" methods where natural sounds, augmented by the Moog, are mixed and textured to evoke each season. The work is constructed in four sections, each about 20 minutes long, which gives the sound time to evolve. The sounds of nature (real or synthetic) include rainstorms, birdsong, frogs, wolves, crackling fires, sound of ... Read More: |
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