Few recordings change the way the world listens to music, but “Switched-On Bach” must be counted among them. On paper, to present the Baroque works of Johann Sebastian Bach on what was then a brand-new electronic instrument, the Moog synthesizer, might have sounded like a gimmick. It is a painful image on which to dwell, but they were terrified times: Ms. Carlos knew that exposure could not only damage her career but also blast apart entirely the privacy she had cultivated for herself. Electronic music, long dismissed as an obscure, brainy pursuit that came out sounding cold as outer space, was suddenly enormously popular—and so it has remained. Synthesizers joined electric guitars as standard instruments in rock and jazz bands; within a year or two, colleges and even high schools were offering courses in electronic music.

Source: Wall Street Journal September 18, 2020 22:07 UTC