Synopsis

The Stanley Kubrick film A Clockwork Orange opened in New York City on this date in 1971. The music was composed, and in some cases re-composed, by Wendy Carlos. As in his earlier hit, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Kubrick used classical music. This time, however, in keeping with the film’s futuristic storyline, the classics were adapted and arranged for Moog synthesizer by Wendy Carlos. The main title music, which we’re sampling, was Purcell’s Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary.

Carlos had just read the Anthony Burgess novel, A Clockwork Orange, when she saw a notice in the New York Times that Kubrick was at work filming it. She immediately airmailed Kubrick two Moog synthesizer pieces, one original and one a classical arrangement. Kubrick wrote back, inviting her to London to talk, and the rest is history.

Wendy Carlos had become an international celebrity with her earlier album Switched-On Bach, consisting of her Bach arrangements for synthesizer. It became the first classical recording ever to be certified platinum. Musical genius pianist Glenn Gould, whose own recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations was one of the biggest sellers of all time, said: “Carlos’ realization of the Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 is, to put it bluntly, the finest performance of any of the Brandenburgs — live, canned, or intuited — I’ve ever heard.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Henry Purcell (arr. Wendy Carlos): Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary; Wendy Carlos, synthesizers Eastside; Digital 81362

J.S. Bach (arr. Wendy Carlos): Brandenburg Concerto No. 4; Wendy Carlos, synthesizers; CBS/Sony 42309