Stanley Kubrick's Clockwork Orange (1971 Film)

Comment: My biggest complaint with most digital music is the tendency for artists to place too much importance on the digital aspect of their compositions and stray away from creating something that actually sounds like music. My desire to hear innovative technology used to produce something more pleasing to my ears than a fascinating series of blips and filtered noises is perhaps why I hold Wendy / Walter Carlos' work on the soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange in such high regard.

The opening cut on the soundtrack, "The Funeral of Queen Mary", immediately showcases what is perhaps Carlos' greatest strength, the ability to coax a seemingly endless palate of timbres from a primitive set of instruments. It is easy to take synthesized sound for granted today, with and endless array of instrument settings available on inexpensive Casio keyboards with the touch of a button, but this was far from reality in 1971, when The Soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange was recorded. Carlos' instrument of choice was the Moog synthesizer, an instrument marked by an incredibly restrictive selection of tones. Anything richer than a simple beep or clip of white noise would have had to be carefully crafted by Carlos. What would now take four seconds on a $50 toy keyboard could have taken hours in the process of recording these tracks. Those hours of time were obviously well spent. "The Funeral of Queen Mary" (not an original composition) presents us with a sonic landscape that presents depth comparable to a full orchestra. The brooding and ominous bass end shows remarkable character for what could have easily become a mess of flattened and grating tones. Violins, Timpani, and Woodwinds all seem to be present, carefully crafted by Carlos. During moments like this, The Soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange rises above simple artistry to impressive artisanship.

The most influential song on the album is, almost without question, "March from A Clockwork Orange (Ninth Symphony, Fourth Movement, Abridged)". In an effort very similar to her acclaimed Switched on Bach album, Carlos seamlessly mixes synthesized with orchestral sounds. The real innovation, however, comes from the vocal recording technique used. "March from A Clockwork Orange" is the first recorded song to be credited with the use of a vocoder. This technique, pioneered first by Carlos, is widely used by synth-pop and indie bands in the present day.

My favorite piece, available on the soundtrack only as an excerpt, is Wendy Carlos' original piece, "Timesteps". No recording on the album more accurately captures the atmosphere and emotion I associate with Kubrik's A Clockwork Orange. The song retains strong musical qualities while simultaneously establishing a strong ambient landscape to sustain the feelings of desperation and nervousness in the listener.

All in all, the soundtrack represents a solid effort consistent with the tone of the movie. There are certainly several throwaway tracks, as is common with soundtracks, but nothing truly offensive to the ear. My only complaint is the tendency to get bogged down in excessive and uncreative arrangements of the same tired Orchestral Pops songs (see William Tell Overture). This alone is not enough to stop me from recommending The Soundtrack from A Clockwork Orange. 4 stars.

Comment: The soundtrack album of CLOCKWORK ORANGE, even with its simple (and supposedly) outdated Wendy Carlos recordings, holds up far better than the actual film has over these 38 years. This story takes place in the 1990s, and we all know that today's world is nothing like Anthony Burgess' dismal and nightmarish vision . . . don't we?

Many of this soundtrack's classical selections are by Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic. Their spirited Beethoven and Rossini interpretations remain some of the very best ever recorded.

An excerpt of Wendy's "Timesteps" is the most compelling piece here. In the film, this stark aural collage is background to Alex's behavior modification. In order to shorten his prison sentence, the violent sociopath agrees to a course of reprogramming. He's made chemically ill while forced to view scenes of rapine and bloodshed. The choking sickness can only be arrested by replacing any natural criminal urges with passive thoughts.

It's hard to listen to "Overture To The Sun" without picturing the spotlighted naked girl who tempts an on-display Alex into a state of unwellness that he likens to "wanting to snuff it." His ability to act brutally has been taken from him, ironically through a violently imposed trigger reflex. The subsequent events precipitating Alex's restoration into a fully NON-functional member of society beset him in a fashion eerily similar to the chaos he once left in his violent wake.

The stark images and perversities of "Orange" tend to stay with a person. Perhaps watching Kubrick's A CLOCKWORK ORANGE has in some way "programmed" the viewer too, by desensitizing us to the madness that's all around.

Maybe the film holds up better than I thought. I must have a glass of choko moloko and reconsider. Meanwhile, you may buy this CD with confidence and listen to lovely, lovely Ludwig van . . .

Comment: This is a fantastic Kubrick movie. Based on a novel of equal respect, this movie details troubled youth, violence, and sex in a modern-yet-more-so world. The slang of the young men in the movie is a mixture of British and Russian slang terminology created by the book's author. A must-see for the Kubrick fan out there.

Comment: I own this on vinyl and yes an exellent soundtrack from an exellent movie

Comment: Having purchased this soundtrack along with its respective CD score (by Wendy Carlos), it is a wonderful installment to any soundtrack fan/buff. The awesome sound of classical music, contained in the CDs, in which director Stanley Kubrick chose for the picture, is so juxtaposing it is brilliant. Even if one does not know a lick of classical music, one can easily suggest this soundtrack as a useful introduction into the genre. Though the film may not be as easy to experience as the music contained inside, the soundtrack stands as a milestone for music in film perhaps only beaten by the director's previous work in '2001 A Space Odyssey'.