Editing Wendy Carlos (section)

=== 1970s ===
After the release of ''Switched-On Bach'', Carlos was invited to compose the soundtrack of two science fiction films, ''[[Marooned (1969 film)|Marooned]]'' (1969), directed by [[John Sturges]], and ''[[A Clockwork Orange (film)|A Clockwork Orange]]'' (1971), directed by [[Stanley Kubrick]]. When the directors of ''Marooned'' changed their minds about including a soundtrack, Carlos chose to work with Kubrick, as she and Elkind were fans of his previous films, adding: "We finally wound up talking with someone who had a close connection to Stanley Kubrick's lawyer. We suddenly got an invitation to fly to London."<ref name=filmscoremonthly>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.wendycarlos.com/other/PDF-Files/FSM-Interview*.pdf|journal=Winter Score Monthly|date=March 1999|first=Jeff|last=Bond|pages=18–23|title=A Clockwork Composer|access-date=February 15, 2016|archive-date=March 28, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160328100411/http://www.wendycarlos.com/other/PDF-Files/FSM-Interview*.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Before Carlos knew about the offer, she read the book and began writing a piece based on it named "Timesteps". A soundtrack containing only the film cuts of the score was released as ''[[A Clockwork Orange (soundtrack)|Stanley Kubrick's Clockwork Orange]]'' in 1972, combining synthesized and classical music by [[Henry Purcell]], [[Beethoven]] and [[Gioacchino Rossini]] with an early use of a [[vocoder]]. Later that year, Carlos released an album of music not included in the final score titled ''[[Walter Carlos' Clockwork Orange]]'', which peaked on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart at No. 146.<ref>[http://www.allmusic.com/album/wendy-carlos-clockwork-orange-mw0000046193/awards "Wendy Carlos: Clockwork Orange"]. ''AllMusic''. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311015948/http://www.allmusic.com/album/wendy-carlos-clockwork-orange-mw0000046193/awards |date=March 11, 2016 }}.</ref><ref name="Whitburn1996">{{cite book|last=Whitburn|first=Joel|p=131|title=Joel Whitburn's Top Pop albums, 1955-1996|date=1996|ISBN=9780898201178|publisher=Record Research Inc.|location=Menomonee Falls, WI, U.S.}}</ref> Carlos later described the project as "a lot of fun&nbsp;... a pleasurable venture".<ref name=filmscoremonthly />

Carlos experimented with [[ambient music]] on her third studio album ''[[Sonic Seasonings]]'', released as a [[double album]] in 1972, with one side-long track dedicated to each of the [[Season|four seasons]]. Recorded as early as 1970 and finished in mid-1971, before the ''A Clockwork Orange'' project was complete, Carlos wished to produce music that did not require "lengthy concentrated listening", but more than a collection of ambient noises to portray an environment.<ref name=newmusicbox2007>{{cite web | last=Oterion | first=Frank J. | title=Wendy's World | website=NewMusicBox | date=2007-04-01 | url=https://nmbx.newmusicusa.org/wendys-world/ | access-date=2019-07-23 | archive-date=July 23, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190723192801/https://nmbx.newmusicusa.org/wendys-world/ | url-status=live }}</ref> It combined [[field recording]]s of animals and nature with synthesized sounds, occasionally employing melodies, to create [[soundscape]]s. It reached No. 168 in the ''Billboard'' 200 and influenced other artists who went on to pursue the ambient and [[New-age music|new-age]] genres in later years.<ref name="Whitburn1996"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/sonic-seasonings-r208076 |title=Sonic Seasonings |publisher=All Music |first=John |last=Bush |access-date=January 20, 2012 |archive-date=September 2, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110902140152/http://allmusic.com/album/sonic-seasonings-r208076 |url-status=live }}</ref>

By 1973, Columbia/[[CBS Records International|CBS Records]] had received a considerable number of requests for Carlos to produce another album of synthesized classical music. She agreed to the request, opting to produce a sequel to ''Switched-On Bach'', which began with her and Elkind seeking compositions that were most suitable for the synthesizer; the two picked selections from [[Orchestral suites (Bach)|Suite No. 2 in B minor]], [[Inventions and Sinfonias (Bach)|Two-Part Inventions in A minor and major]], Suite from [[Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach]], and [[Brandenburg Concertos|Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major]]. The latter features a [[Yamaha Corporation|Yamaha]] [[Electone|E-5 Electone organ]] for certain passages, as a reliable [[polyphony|polyphonic]] keyboard had not been developed. The result, ''[[Switched-On Bach II]]'', was released in 1973 and sold over 70,000 copies in the US during the first five weeks of its release.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vQcEAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22sonic+seasonings%22&pg=PA27 |first=Robert |last=Sobel |title=How 'Switched-On' Was Turned On |date=16 February 1974 |magazine=Billboard |page=27}}</ref>

Following ''Switched-On Bach II'', Carlos changed musical directions once more. In 1971, she and Elkind had asked Columbia Records to attach a pre-paid business reply card in each new pressing of her albums, which resulted in a considerable amount of suggestions from the public regarding the subject of her future releases.<ref name=byrequest1975>{{Cite AV media notes|title=By Request|publisher=Columbia Masterworks Records|id=M 32088|year=1975}}</ref> The ideas received were divided; some asked for more classical adaptations, while others wanted more of Carlos's original compositions. Carlos decided, "If I was going to spend months for mere minutes of music, I certainly wasn't going to be pigeonholed into only retreading existing music", and so began a process of "re-directing new ideas, reworking old ones". By mid-1974, Carlos and Elkind had selected tracks of varying styles to record on the Moog synthesizer, which Carlos found liberating, as it demonstrated the flexibility of the instrument.<ref name=byrequest2003>{{Cite AV media notes|title=By Request (Reissue)|publisher=East Side Digital|id=ESD 81692|year=2003}}</ref> Released as ''By Request'' in 1975, the album includes pieces from Bach, [[Wagner]], [[Tchaikovsky]], two of Carlos's compositions from the 1960s, and renditions of "[[Eleanor Rigby]]" by [[The Beatles]] and "[[What's New Pussycat? (song)|What's New Pussycat?]]", originally sung by [[Tom Jones (singer)|Tom Jones]].<ref name=byrequest1975 /> The latter track, featuring some 40 tracks of overdubbed synthesiser, was one of the pieces that Carlos had unsuccessfully presented to Elkind in 1967 when they were planning what became ''Switched-On Bach''.{{sfn|Sewell|2022|p=44}} The final track, entitled "Pompous Circumstances", a "witty and serious" set of variations based on themes by [[Edward Elgar]] (see "[[Pomp and Circumstance]]"), was replaced by CBS with tracks from ''The Well-Tempered Synthesizer'' on UK pressings after members of Elgar's estate refused to have his music presented in this style, which "devastated" Carlos.<ref name=byrequest2003 /> Between 1974 and 1980 she scored several short films for producer Dick Young for [[UNICEF]] (seven of which were released in 2005 on ''Rediscovering Lost Scores, Vol.1'').<ref name=filmscoremonthly /><ref>''Rediscovering Lost Scores, Vol. 1'' liner notes</ref>

''By Request'' was followed by ''[[Switched-On Brandenburgs]]'', a double album containing all six of Bach's ''[[Brandenburg Concertos]]'' played on a synthesizer, in 1980.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://i.imgur.com/SgzBrfO.png | title = Advert in April 1980 edition of Stereo Review | access-date = August 4, 2019 | archive-date = February 14, 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210214170933/https://i.imgur.com/SgzBrfO.png | url-status = live }}</ref>{{user-generated inline|certain=y|date=December 2023}}