My mom, ever the audiophile and music fan, had a copy of the avant-garde album Switched on Bach (1968) by electronic music artist Wendy Carlos. If you're not familiar with the album, it's understandable; it has been out of print for a number of years, unfortunately. On it, Carlos uses the Moog synthesizer to recreate a number of Bach's "greatest hits" with some pretty dramatic results. Most importantly, it's futuristic while still respecting the source material, which keeps it from being just some experimental novelty record.
The second track of Switched on Bach is "Air on the G String," and it became a fast favorite of mine as a kid. Carlos's arrangement for the synthesizer and the stereo separation of the recording push Bach's melody to the forefront, showcasing just what a beautiful melody it is.
I didn't hear "Air on the G String" performed by actual strings, though, until I was a pre-teen. I was up early one Saturday morning, long before everyone else, and I started channel surfing to see what was on at that time of day. I ended up landing on either A&E or Bravo (back when they had actual arts programming instead of dreck), and there was a string quintet on an empty stage, playing the piece. It was only some interstitial clip that the station was using to fill time until the next scheduled program, but it was so achingly beautiful that I watched the whole thing.
Listening to the piece as the sun came up and beamed through our living room windows, I couldn't help but get a little choked up. The string version has been my favorite ever since.
Anyway, it's moments and memories like that that made me want to create this list.
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