Optimum 20-bit Hi-D transfers from the original first generation 1972 1/2" and 1/4" master tapes. Includes two newly discovered tracks that had to be omitted from the original release since did not fit on the LP album.

 

Tracks From the Original Liner Notes Looking Back on Clockwork About The Studio Timesteps -- New: Full Score Pages! Credits and Thanks What they're saying about it -- Reviews Back to the Discography Page Back to the wendycarlos.com Homepage

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Tracks

Timesteps Wendy Carlos March from A Clockwork Orange (Beethoven: Ninth Symphony: Fourth Movement, Abridged) Articulations by Rachel Elkind-Arr. Wendy Carlos Title Music from A Clockwork Orange (from Purcell's Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary) Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind La Gazza Ladra (The Thieving Magpie, Abridged) Gioacchino Rossini-Arr. Wendy Carlos Theme from A Clockwork Orange (Beethoviana) Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind Ninth Symphony: Second Movement (Scherzo) Ludwig van Beethoven-Arr. Wendy Carlos William Tell Overture, Abridged Gioacchino Rossini-Arr. Wendy Carlos Orange Minuet Wendy Carlos Biblical Daydreams Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind Country Lane Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind

Produced by Rachel Elkind for TEMPI
All selections BMI
(The music score for this album was available on Hanson Publications D 151 -- out of print)

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Liner Notes
(excerpts from the complete notes of the CD set)

Shortly after the success of her Switched-On Bach album, Wendy Carlos and her long-time producer Rachel Elkind began working with a spectrum follower--a device that converts sounds, such as speech, into electronic signals that mirror the overtones and rhythms of the original. The idea: To create the first electronic "vocal" piece. The piece selected for translation: the Choral Movement from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. After much preliminary work, Rachel felt that the Beethoven selection needed some kind of an introduction, something to ease the listener into this new sound of a well-known piece. Wendy began work on what was later to develop into an original, self-sustaining composition entitled Timesteps.

Wendy was, by her own admission, "about three and a half minutes" into Timesteps when a friend gave her a paperback copy of A Clockwork Orange. Like so many other readers, Wendy fell under the spell of Anthony Burgess' vision of a world of tomorrow filled with ultra-violence. She was also struck by the fact that her Timesteps music seemed to capture the exact feeling of the opening scenes of Burgess' book. Further work, and Timesteps evolved, subconsciously, into a kind of musical poem based on Clockwork -- a work that, as Wendy says, was an "autonomous composition with an uncanny affinity for Clockwork."

Then, the same friend who had given her Clockwork sent a clipping from a London newspaper announcing that Stanley Kubrick had just begun production of a film based on Burgess' book. Wendy and Rachel, both admirers of Kubrick's previous work, began to share the same day-dream: "Wouldn't it be great if..." Then came an announcement in the New York Times that Kubrick had actually finished filming. Timesteps was also finished, so Rachel sprang into action. Through a friend, literary agent Lucy Kroll, she contacted Kubrick's United States representative.

Timesteps and Beethoven's Choral Movement were airmailed to Kubrick. Wendy and Rachel waited. Finally, came a request from Kubrick: Could they come to London and discuss the use of Wendy's music in the film?

They came. They saw. And not only did they agree to Kubrick's use of the Beethoven Movement and Timesteps for the movie, but also Wendy began to arrange / perform some of the music already contracted for by Kubrick, and they even set down original ideas for other background music.

In this album, Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind have brought together all the music that Wendy suggested, arranged and / or composed for this remarkable film. In addition to the selections from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (including Wendy's scintillant version of the Scherzo), and Timesteps, here is The Thieving Magpie ("As we would have done it, had there been time") and a startling piece of original music, Country Lane. This latter piece, which depicts Alex's near drowning at the hands of his ex-Droogs, utilizes motifs from The Thieving Magpie plus the medieval religious theme of Dies Irae (Day of 'Wrath), which is also heard in the title music, plus authentic rain storm sounds (as in Wendy's Sonic Seasonings album) plus a suggestion of Singin' in the Rain. (In its few minutes, this Country Lane manages to sum up the mood of the entire film.)

Here, then, is the music that you heard--and did not hear--in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange. Here is the only recording actually supervised by both persons responsible for this remarkable film score. Here is the only complete collection of Wendy Carlos's music for A Clockwork Orange.

--Chris Nelson

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Looking Back on Clockwork

Although Warner Brothers released their filmscore album shortly after the release of Kubrick's Clockwork Orange, Rachel Elkind and I were never completely satisfied with it. The tapes used for the transfers were those made for the film track, and were a couple of generations removed from the original master mixes. So these versions contained compromises, like a necessary added compression and EQ, to sound good on a mono Academy optical print (at least we pioneered the use of Dolby, used for the first time ever in a film!)

Clockwork included only a portion of my Timesteps, so the album contained the excerpt, too. The Scherzo from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony had been shortened and processed for the film's suicide attempt scene, which eliminated a good portion of our not quite complete realization of that movement. A few of our cues for the film were left out at the last minute. As these were among the best things we'd done for the project, that was frustrating. These materials might have been included on the Warner Brothers album, but because of several other music cues that had been used in the film, there wasn't the space on that LP for them.

Fortunately, we were able to release our own full score album three months after the "official" version was put out. We worked on assembling our music the best we could to give a fair account of all we'd done for Kubrick. We included all of Timesteps, and I worked to do a spirited synth version of Rossini's La Gazza Ladra.

Since we ran out of space for our original CBS LP, we could not include several cues but agreed that this was the best compromise at the time. Otherwise our CBS release contained most of the music we'd done on the project, and had a reasonable sound quality by the standards of those days. With this new remastered deluxe edition the missing tracks have been included. At the same time were never fond of the cover that CBS came up with, even though it was clever and well executed.

The day has finally come to return to the masters, and assemble this first CD release of all our music, and even to design a new cover. This one contains some gentle hints of the cover for Tales of Heaven & Hell, since that new album's roots can be partially found in this film's music. The cover art I drew for Tales is a visual pun on CO's poster art. This filmscore CD's cover combines a nod to that original poster art, plus another to the TH&H take-off. Something nicely recursive about all of that...

I'm particularly thrilled to get the complete Timesteps out via this maximum quality digital transfer. And the rest of the score is, I think, among some of the best work I did with Rachel in the early 70's. It deserves at least the chance to be heard again, and heard as optimally as possible. I'm grateful to ESD for observing this, and now doing something about it. And as suggested above, we are also including two bonus tracks: Biblical Daydreams and Orange Minuet, which have never been available before!

I'm often amazed how much music we were able to squeeze out of such meager, recalcitrant tools back then. I'd never wish to go back to those frustrating limitations. Often decent art can arise despite gross constraints. I'd like to think this is such an example. Since any music's value ultimately rises and falls on the composition and the performance, I don't think the hurdles the equipment imposed on us ought be considered very much, if at all, when you listen to this CD.

Nevertheless, we truly have "come a long way, baby!" You can't help but notice it by now. Here's to the next generation of electronic and computer media art which can be built on a much firmer foundation than existed back in 1971. Here's to the future of our still young medium!

--Wendy Carlos, New York City, 1998

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About The Studio

Here is a view of the Upper West Side (Manhattan) brownstone studio (full size | medium size as it looked "in its heyday" in the mid '70's. The main studio, with console in the center (here we see its back only), tape machines behind it, and a small organ in front, sat lower than the ground floor. Rachel Elkind and I had dropped the rear half by several feet (into the basement space), to achieve a decent ceiling height for better audio monitoring purposes. This view is from the top of the stairs, where the room that contained the piano and mikes and live musicians was at the original floor height.

The stairs just below and in front of us in the photo were gently curved and carpeted. It was a nice, homey touch that Rachel though up. The room was quite narrow, as the foundation of the basement had thicker walls than the upper floors. So the sound absorbing walls were splayed, wider at the top, narrower below. I think the width below was somewhere between eleven and twelve feet -- the only real compromise we had to make.

Clockwork Orange was the second big project recorded in the studio (Sonic Seasonings, the other rerelease of this first ESD grouping, was the first). All of the music was done in this narrow space. We would use the upper room for recording live performances and elements, to keep the monitors from feeding back into the microphones. But a few times we just turned the amps down and put the mikes right there where we were working.

The final masters were recorded onto the Ampex 8-track, since we had planned on a stereo release, which Kubrick later decided against, and still oddly avoids. This recorder, which I built from used parts to record the first S-OB master, sits to the right of the big picture window we installed, to keep the space non-claustrophobic, and to provide a glimpse of nature while working. Since this was in the days before SMPTE was popular, we used a 60 Hz tone, put on one track of the eight, so Kubrick's engineers could maintain synchronization, once the start "beep" had been located properly. It worked pretty well for a simple system. (That 60 Hz, by the way, was gotten most expediently: a couple of alligator clips on the VU meter lights, to a patch cord, and right into the Ampex...!)

The 16-track 3-M tape recorder (to the right) captured most of the master tracks and elements, again with a 60 Hz sync track. My original Moog synth beside the 3-M provided most of the instrumental lines, one note at a time. We borrowed a 35 mm mono audio dubber from our friend, the composer Eric Siday, to playback the dialog track in sync, and help us locate each sync point. Wherever there was a "cue to hit", we glued a teeny snip of loud sine tone on 1/4" tape onto that spot on the film's audio mag track, so the audio output provided a "blip" at these spots. We bought a used small Movieola to watch the scenes we were about to score. These latter two devices were not in the room when I took this slide, a few years later.

Nowadays the whole job could be done in a much smaller space, and with much greater convenience and speed. But somehow, it will be harder to duplicate the charm and atmosphere of this novel old studio. I still remember how many out of town visitors who saw it told us it was the "highlight of their whole NYC sightseeing trip!" But of course, back then, even the idea of a home or "project studio" was one whose time was yet to come...

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TimeSteps, the full score

Exclusive -- available at last, for the first time since the Hanson edition of music from A Clockwork Orange became out-of-print, we present pages from the actual score used in composing TimeSteps! We've scanned the four-on-one-sheet printed pages at high res, and then carefully cleaned and edited the images for clarity, and converted them into JPEGs, for you to see here, or save for later to study. (They are much too large to see all at once on your monitor at 1:1 scale. Use the scroll bars as needed.)

• Click HERE - pp. 1-4 to view the first four pages of Part One, the General Placement overview score.
• (or click HERE - pp. 1-4 to download this file directly, in .sit format.)
• Click HERE - pp. 17-20 to view the first four pages of Part Two, the Individual Component sections.
• (or click HERE - pp. 17-20 to download this file directly, in .sit format.)

  Note: I've uploaded these files again recently, as some of you have have reported problems downloading the Stuffed versions. They now seem to be just fine, and dowrload and open up normally on several machines here. But there are all sorts of Network problems, or your own computer's software configurations and available RAM, that can lead to corruption of moderately large files like these, loss of the EOF code and such. You'll have to try again if you experience trouble, or get a friend who's connection works out fine to grab it for you. Sorry that we must still experience the symptoms of a rather newish technology, folks!

If you can read music, you'll recognize the themes and layers and vocal parts (done with vocoder) as they are heard in the newly remastered Hi-D ESD album. But even if you can't, the fascinating visual, graphic layout, in Wendy's own handwriting, is worth studying, especially while listening to the CD. While subtle, it's not as complex as it may first appear, and you may enjoy discovering other ways of composing for the synthesizer studio. TimeSteps has received a lot of attention for years, since Kubrick chose it for scenes in his 1971 film, as an important example of early Electronic Music.
 

(If there is enough interest, we'll add to these pages, until the complete score is available here. Each file is about 400k in size, at 200 dpi, and is the actual size of the printed pages in the original Clockwork Orange filmscore book, Hanson Publications D 151.)

 
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Credits and Thanks

Sundry benefactors: Earl Carter, Sue C. Clark, Jan Harlan, Ted Mann, Erica and Marshall Phillips, Phillip Ramey, R. Dennis Schwarz, Eric & Edith Siday.
With special thanks to Lewis Blau, Lucy Kroll, and Christiane and Stanley.

Original LP: first released 1972 as Columbia KC 31480. Album cover construction Karenlee Grant, photo David Vine.

Special Thanks, Remastered CD: John Romkey, Chris & Todd & Georges @ Arboretum Systems, Eric Klein @ Waves, Joe Winograd @ Aris, Matthew Davidson @ MotU, John Klett, and Clare Cooper. Graphic remix by Drew Miller @ SmartSet. Cover painting by Chelsea Louviere, additional graphics and assembly Wendy Carlos.

© 1972, 1998 Serendip.
All rights reserved

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What they're saying about it:
(Reviews, to be updated again. A big thanks to all who contributed!)

(East Side Digital's Blurb:)

Wendy Carlos - Clockwork Orange (Complete Original Score)
(ESD 81362 enhanced CD)

Got moloko?

This is the first-ever CD release of Wendy Carlos's memorable score to Stanley Kubrick's Clockwork Orange. Along with Carlos's classical realization of the Ode to Joy from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, this was the recording which first introduced the world to Wendy's original compositions, including Timesteps, still considered one of the landmarks of electronic music.

For this release Wendy has restored and digitally remastered the original recordings, and added two pieces Orange Minuet and Biblical Daydreams which did not fit on the original 1972 CBS LP. This is one of the most sought-after recordings by both Wendy Carlos fans and film score enthusiasts.

Performance: *****
Sonics: ****1/2

Within days of buying my first DAT machine in 1989, I transferred Wendy Carlos' "Clockwork Orange" score from the pristine second LP copy I'd kept locked away since the seventies.
 
Worlds away from the official Warner Brothers score, this 1972 release - just reissued on CD for the first time in extraordinarily detailed 20-bit remastered form - featured the "Switched On Bach" synthesizer pioneer at the peak of her artistry, realizing both featured classical standards (the second and fourth movement's of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9; Rossini's "La Gazza Ladra" overture and Purcell's "Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary) and some of the most tightly conceived and powerful originals of the day.
 
Snippets of the music found its way into the film, but only a fraction. The reissue also includes two substantial works that didn't fit on the LP - the Strawbs-like "Orange Minuet" and music to accompany Alex's fantasies of Christ's persecution - "Biblical Daydreams."
 
The focal point of the CD however is Carlos' 13:50 "Timesteps" - an organic, transfiguring electronic mini drama that captures both the book and film's insistent rhythms, menacing power and dark, schizophrenic undertow.

--Daniel Buckley

Wendy Carlos is what you might call a true genius in the world of twentieth century music. She's always been ahead of her time...expanding boundaries and challenging listeners and herself. Hats off to East Side Digital for seeing fit to re-release earlier Carlos recordings as well as her latest work. Wendy's first major claim to fame was a recording called Switched On Bach, which literally changed the way the world listened to classical music (it also ended up being the first platinum classical album EVER). The re-releases of Clockwork Orange and Sonic Seasonings were remastered by Wendy herself, so you KNOW they sound dynamite...and both releases include extra tracks that weren't included on the vinyl releases. You'd think that an electronic recording from 1972 would sound dated and trite, but this is definitely not the case with the Clockwork soundtrack. It sounded futuristic and incredible then, and it sounds just as amazing now.
 
From the frightening "Timesteps" right on through "Country Lane," this represents state-of-the-art technology in the early seventies. The music has held up well, still sounding better than most current electronic discs released of late. Sonic Seasonings was Wendy's foray into ambient music (although at that time I doubt such a label existed). The music on Seasonings consists of four lengthy pieces divided up into "Spring," "Summer," "Winter," and "Fall." The music captures the essence of the seasons, with subtle electronics rounding out the sound. The real treat on this double CD, however, is the last track entitled "Midnight Sun." Unreleased until now, this hypnotic piece represents Wendy at her best. Layers upon layers of thick heady tones that sound like you've died and gone to heaven. But if you think that her past work overshadows her current endeavors, spinning Tales of Heaven and Hell will change your mind.
 
Possibly the most intensely orchestrated work she has yet to produce, this disc leaves other electronic musicians in a trail of dust (but then, Wendy always WAS ahead of her time...). The tunes on this disc sound like the soundtrack to my worst (and best) nightmares. Ms. Carlos throws so much at the listener that you can't help but feel overwhelmed...but in a very good way. Beautiful, frightening, surreal, psychedelic...there aren't enough adjectives to describe this music. Each tune is meticulously and painstakingly crafted. There's no telling how much time Wendy spent creating epics such as "Transitional," "Clockwork Black," or "Memories." Suffice to say, the lady who is largely responsible for the entire world of electronic music is still light years ahead of the rest. Easily one of the best CDs I've ever heard in my life, Tales is a rich and rewarding trip into unlimitless imagination. Wendy Carlos is in a category all her own. MIND BOGGLING.
 
(All three CDs get a rating of...6 out of 6)

Wendy Carlos' music from "A Clockwork Orange" has the best effect any film music can have: when you hear it, you remember exactly when in the film it was playing, and you can definitely remember whether or not you felt it all over again. I did with this disc. Although I haven't seen "A Clockwork Orange" in at least eight years, every creepy feeling came back to me. The milk bar, the rape, the Gene Kelly number, the prison, the torture... Jesus. I'm a happy guy.
 
Wendy Carlos got the job and pretty much just recycled the concept of her best- selling Switched on Bach album. Most of the music here is a Moog reading of such classic works as the "William Tell Overture" and "The Thieving Magpie." It's a kick to hear all of these "futuristic" fugues, but the real prize here may be the opening "Timesteps." When it originally appeared on the original "Clockwork Orange" soundtrack (this disc only compiles Carlos' tracks, thus Gene Kelly and that "Lighthouse Keeper" bullshit are Missing In Action), it was a slim four- minute piece. You may remember its hollow, lost- in- space- with- a- big- ass- gong sounds. But you've never heard the full- on fourteen minute epic, a shifting headscratcher that wanders around like Yanni's left nut. And yeah, I mean that in a good way.
 
Aside from a cut cue, "Biblical Daydreams," the rest of Carlos' stuff is here in its extended glory, tickling the ears and bringing back a whole lotta nightmares I thought I'd gotten over. Its retro- futuristic glow is a bit grating at times, but for folks who like this patch of backwater-- and I'm calling out to you, Synergy fans-- this disc has... a peel. (Groan now.)

--Jason Josephes 

Wendy Carlos' dramatic score for the legendary "Clockwork Orange" motion picture is an interesting collection of solid, dark, electronic proto-new age music, long out of print and finally reissued. Part of the record is Carlos' original electronic compositions, like "Timesteps," a disconcerting musical poem written expressly to capture the ultra-violence of "Orange," and "Orange Minuet" and "Biblical Daydreams," which weren't included in the score's original release.
 
Other tunes on the album are electronically realized (and mindblowing, in historical context) interpretations of classics from composers like Beethoven and Rossini, and these follow-ups to "Switched-On Bach" are even more enjoyable than Carlos' originals. Although the score may not have the same impact that it had in 1972, this is a wonderfully- remastered and long-overdue reissue of a true classic, every bit as visionary as the movie it accompanies.

--Reviewed by: The Big Room

Best electronic album in the world ever. What can be said about this album that hasn't been said already? It quite simply contains some of the best electronic music ever composed; the most skilled manipulation of voltage controlled oscillators, filters and amplifiers ever to be used to change the pole orientation of a particle of magnetic tape oxide. Yes, I like this album lots.
 
Timesteps is the highlight of this album, IMO. It's dark, dank and spooky. It's complex interwoven morphing soundscapes overlaid with eerie chanting "Hosanna" (or at least, that's what it says on Wendy's own handwritten score) combined with strange vocoder singing parts. It has withstood the test of time and in 1998 remains an outstanding and forward looking piece of music. Every time I listen to it I hear something new in it.
 
If you're reading out there and you take electronic music - or indeed, any music - seriously then you *must* check out this album. In exchange for your 15 bucks you get taken on a rollercoaster ride through an intricately connected series of complex, intricate pieces of music. You've never had it so good.

--Brendan Heading (b.heading@dnet.co.uk)

You know the movie. This is the soundtrack. Moody and surreal. The hauntingly beautiful synth chants interwoven with classical music makes this one of the best movie scores ever done. Audio ultra-moody music for all of you little droogies can be found here. {Mite}

While the original Warner Bros. film soundtrack mixed up Carlos's electronic interpretations of classical greats with symphonic renditions, this score is all electronic. Featuring music from both the original soundtrack and a lesser-known alternate soundtrack, as well as some unreleased Carlos originals meant for the film, this Clockwork will please her fans.
 
Aside from famous classical renditions and reinterpretations like "A Theme from A Clockwork Orange (Beethoviana)," there are pieces that were scored but never used, including "Country Lane" (originally meant for the scene in which Alex is nearly drowned by his ex-gang-mates) and "Biblical Daydreams" (for the scene in which Alex dreams up perverse theological fantasies in prison).
 
On top of it all is "Timesteps," a creepy 14-minute suite inspired by the composer's initial exposure to the Anthony Burgess novel and excerpted in the final film. Carlos has a distinctive way of reinterpreting classical works onto the synthesizer, utilizing unusual tones and textures that give these renditions a unique stamp.

--Bryan Reesman

I've been listening to Clockwork Orange quite often since getting it. "Orange Minuet" should have been a hit single! Sonic Seasonings sounds great too. Tangerine Dream must have been listening to it at the time Carlos made it.

Yeah, I'm A Carlos Fan The third of the trilogy of great Carlos CDs ("Tales of Heaven & Hell" and "Sonic Seasonings"), this one bridges the gap between her classical renditions and her original compositions.
 
Loving tributes to Beethoven, Rossini and Purcell are interposed with stunning original compositions. "Country Lane" and "Timesteps" are Carlos' masterpieces, sparking with originality and sardonic wit. Kubrick's film was outstanding, but one has to bemoan how much better it would have been had he used Carlos' original score all the way through instead of the mishmash of classical, popular and nostalgia he settled on. *What* was he thinking???
 
The only way you can hear the way it should have been is to listen to this album.

--J.R.Carlberg <rcarlberg@aol.com> 

I've been a huge fan of both Carlos and Kubrick since the mid '70's. I was lucky enough to find a copy of Carlos's vinyl pressing of this album in '79. This CD blows it away, I've listened to it once a month since I bought it about a year ago. Timesteps is one of the best works Carlos has ever done and it really shows you what potential electronic music has or had. It's too bad Kubrick didn't use the whole score, I think it would have made the movie even stronger. The mechanical/electronic works would have heightened the dystopic feel of the film. If you buy one soundtrack this should be it. 

Wendy Carlos Clockwork Orange soundtrack is long overdue. I have waited years and years for this to be released on CD. This is her masterpiece. Timesteps is probably the best synthesizer piece of all time. Needless to say, I love this album. Don't think, just buy it!

--B. Benoit <BBenoit@aol.com>

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