Book Review
Jun. 9th, 2024 02:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariSwitched-On Bach
by Roshanak Kheshti
This short book examines Wendy Carlos' seminal album through the lens of transformation, technology, and gender. The album Switched On Bach came out in 1968 and is a selection of Bach pieces performed on the analog Moog synthesizer. The creation of the album involved painstaking sound design and orchestration on a finicky piece of equipment. The album sold millions of copies, brought the synthesizer out of the esoteric and inaccessible avant-garde and into the mainstream, and popularized the instrument.
Kheshti takes a very philosophical and intellectual approach to discussing Switched On Bach, one which I found fascinating. She dwells a lot on the synthesizer's and recording studio's ability to transform and translate sound and music. She relates that to a few aspects of 1960s and 1970s history and society as well as to gendering and gender perceptions of the synthesizer, electronic music, and the avant-garde. It's pretty heady and brainy stuff, but also enjoyable and interesting throughout.
by Roshanak Kheshti
This short book examines Wendy Carlos' seminal album through the lens of transformation, technology, and gender. The album Switched On Bach came out in 1968 and is a selection of Bach pieces performed on the analog Moog synthesizer. The creation of the album involved painstaking sound design and orchestration on a finicky piece of equipment. The album sold millions of copies, brought the synthesizer out of the esoteric and inaccessible avant-garde and into the mainstream, and popularized the instrument.
Kheshti takes a very philosophical and intellectual approach to discussing Switched On Bach, one which I found fascinating. She dwells a lot on the synthesizer's and recording studio's ability to transform and translate sound and music. She relates that to a few aspects of 1960s and 1970s history and society as well as to gendering and gender perceptions of the synthesizer, electronic music, and the avant-garde. It's pretty heady and brainy stuff, but also enjoyable and interesting throughout.
