MOTM

You're right. Sadly, while there has NEVER been a great selection (not just
for classical realizations, but ANY serious synthesizer works), it was sure
a lot better on vinyl. There seems to be no rush to get this stuff onto CD.

-----Original Message-----
From: elle_webb [mailto:elle_webb@...] 


It's amazing that synthesizers have been around for decades, yet so 
little serious work has been done in the area of orchestrating and 
performing classical works. There seems to be a stigma of this type 
of work being "classical lite". 

Bob James, the jazz keyboardist, did a great set of synthesized 
arrangements of Rameau keyboard works. Does anybody have any other 
recommendations in this area, beyond Carlos, Tomita, and ELP?

In an "orchestrial vein", I suggest (in order):

"Six Wives of Henry the 8th" - Rick Wakeman. The best combination of Mellotron, MiniMoog and
piano, ever. And he was only 20yrs old!

"Electronic Realizations" - Synergy (Larry Fast). My #1 all-time favorite synth record.

"Numena" - Robert Rich. My all-time favorite "music to read/solder/study" by.

"Dreamtime Return" - Steve Roach. Ethnic ambient/electronic at it's peak.

"X" - Klaus Schultz. Teutonic Moog at it's best.

Paul S.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: elle_webb [mailto:elle_webb@...] 
> 
> arrangements of Rameau keyboard works. Does anybody have any other 
> recommendations in this area, beyond Carlos, Tomita, and ELP? 

  While not strictly synthesizer music, "Virgil Fox Live at the Fillmore 
East" is where it all started for me.  I was 7 when I heard this, and from 
that moment I knew what focus my interest in 'electricty' would be.  When 
I heard Larry Fast's ERfRO, *that* was the catalysing moment: I started 
looking up how to make synthesizer circuits.  The third epiphany would 
have to be in 1979 when I encountered Michael Iceberg at Disney World.  I 
now had the three keys that started the engine that is still running: the 
inspiration from Virgil Fox (I saw him play in 1978, not long before his 
death), the true-synth wow factor from Larry Fast, and the "here is how it 
is done, playing-wise" factor from Michael Iceberg.

  So, I would recommend albums from these folks.  .Iceberg has a CD of the 
1978 "Does It Live"/"100th week at WDW".  While not as virtuoso as Larry 
or Virgil, Iceberg did everything live without any MIDI or sequencers 
beyond some little 8-step Oberheim thing and a Linn Drum unit.

Crow
/**/

One of my favorites.  I was just listening to it today. Mr. Wakeman has got
to be close to the most articulate keyboard players of this era.  For those
that like new age, he has a relatively new work out called "The family
album."  Not heavy synthesis, but some of the most accurate mastery of the
keyboard you will ever hear.
Larry Hendry

----- Original Message -----
From: Paul Schreiber <synth1@...>
In an "orchestrial vein", I suggest (in order):

"Six Wives of Henry the 8th" - Rick Wakeman. The best combination of
Mellotron, MiniMoog and
piano, ever. And he was only 20yrs old!

Thousand Records was planning a "Switched On" compilation of orchestral
works arranged/performed by modern electronic artists... I don't think it
was finished before the label folded though :-(  They did manage to squeeze
out a Gentle Giant tribute by techno artists though. Which I thought was
very interesting given that there's often a huge rift between fans of Prog
and fans of techno, rarely do either have anything in common other than a
mutual love of analogue gear with lots of knobs.

- Scott

Who's got the Wendy Carlos boxed set? 

Is it worth getting? It's pretty expensive, and it looks like the 
tracks are all in different orders from the albums. 

I recently got a couple of old Klause Schulze albums on CD, Body Love 
& Picture Music. They sound great, if not quite as "trippy" as I once 
imagined them to be!

> I recently got a couple of old Klause Schulze albums on CD, Body Love
> & Picture Music. They sound great, if not quite as "trippy" as I once
> imagined them to be!

Try "Timewind" for trippy, "Mirage" for superb analogue sequencing,
"X" for electronic & orchestral (my favorite electronic album ever),
"Dune" for synthesizers & solo Cello.

("Body Love" is more on the - hmm - relaxing side (;->) )

JH.

elle_webb@... writes:

>>It's amazing that synthesizers have been around for decades, yet so little 
serious work has been done in the area of orchestrating and performing 
classical works. There seems to be a stigma of this type of work being 
"classical lite".  Bob James, the jazz keyboardist, did a great set of 
synthesized arrangements of Rameau keyboard works. Does anybody have any 
other recommendations in this area, beyond Carlos, Tomita, and ELP?<<

I think Ken Tkacs made the good point that the lack of serious synth works 
isn't just confined to classical works.  Because of Switch On Bach's 
influence, there seemed to be a rather large ratio of classical synth 
records.  I break them into two catagories, the older analog synth records 
and the modern digital (and sometimes analog), most of which aren't worth 
listening to.  BTW, Bob James also did a Scarlatti synth record too.

Older analog records that I find well done in most places are:

* Unusual Classical Synthesizer by Tom Hankinson, EMS Putney synth.

* Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture and Nutcracker by Kraft & Alexander, Arp 2600, up 
to 200 tracks of sound in places.

* Everything You Always Wanted to Hear on the Moog, Spanish classical music

* Classical Landscapes, Tim Cross,  Bach Brandenburg #4 and Saint Matthew 
Passion are pretty good

And in the age of CDs there was so much classical synth stuff I could fill a 
page...Bach Busters, 21st Centruy Bach, Synthesizer Through All Ages, 
Favorite Synth Pieces, Bach by Design, Bach for a New Age, Baroque Busters, 
Bach/Handel 300, New Age Bach The Goldberg Variations, and on and on...  If I 
didn't think I needed this stuff in the future to demonstrate what NOT to do 
in classical synth music, I'd put the whole pile up on ebay.

As for Rick Wakeman, my favorite is his "Criminal Record".  I don't think 
I've heard any other Wakeman that compares to the total keyboard energy and 
greatness of his "Stature of Justice" piece.  And his "Judias Iscariot" is 
his most classical sounding piece, full orchestra, choir and pipe organ.

ken.tkacs@... writes:
>>Supposedly, Amin Bhatia's excellent "Interstellar Suite" was to be released 
on CD some time ago. It was his soundtrack to an imaginary sci-fi film, a 
tribute to Tomita, Carlos, John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, etc. Really nice.<<

The closest I've heard to Tomita's style in places is from Amin Bhatia.  
"Interstellar Suite" comes from a couple of Roland synth contest entries he 
did earlier on.  I like those older versions better.  From those contest 
tapes, I recorded an MP3 of his "Flight Beyond The Stars" for somebody else 
to hear.  It's all done on just a Minimoog, but you'd think it was a lot more 
than that.  If it doesn't violate some copyright (it was never a commercial 
release) I might be able to upload it.  I just got set up with ATT, and now 
have enough storage space for greater than 2Meg files.  Just need to learn 
how to do it.

-Elhardt

I picked up the CD 'Quantum Dances' by Glenn Meade a few years ago. I 
only listened to it once before puting it away. About two weeks ago I 
decided I'd give it another listen and I'm really getting into it
now. 
Some of the sounds seem a bit dated (the synth brass) but overall
it's 
a lot of fun to listen to.

Here is a link to his website:

http://synthestra.com/

They describe it as Maximalist and go onto talk about using more than 
40 synth, sampler and audio sources... An accurate way of putting it. 
This is very busy music.

Peter

elle_webb@... writes:

>>Who's got the Wendy Carlos boxed set? Is it worth getting? It's pretty 
expensive, and it looks like the tracks are all in different orders from the 
albums.<<

The tracks are in exactly the same order as the albums, but with the addition 
of "Little Fugue in G minor" added to the SOB#2 CD.  If you already have all 
of the stuff elsewhere, then I can't answer whether it's worth getting.  But 
the booklets that come with it and the outtakes and rejected works that were 
included might well be worth getting the box set for.

-Elhardt

One of my favorite Vangelis albums is Antarctica.  From the same "era" as
Blade Runner.  It's clear he really loved his Yamaha CS-80.

George

----- Original Message -----
From: Tkacs, Ken <ken.tkacs@...>
To: <motm@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 30, 2002 11:09 PM
Subject: FW: [motm] Orchstral Synthesis (WAS: Can analogs pass...)


> <snip>
> Don't forget Vangelis Papathanassiou, too. "Blade Runner" is his
> masterpiece, but you need to get the bootlegs. I like "China," "Albedo
> 0.39," "Mask," and "Heaven & Hell" an awful lot. "Beauborg" is good for
some
> retro "pre keyboard" synthesizer work.