This week I listened to Switched-On Bach II by Wendy Carlos'. I decided to treat myself this week by listening to something I felt that I was guaranteed to enjoy, and boy was I right. Bach's music by itself is already quite enjoyable to listen to, but I'm not crazy about orchestral music. So I've always been drawn to listening to his music in ways that aren't orchestral, such as guitar performances of his music (shoutout to Cyrus Pireh for his fantastic arrangement of "Sheep May Safely Graze" entitled "Sheep Graze") or in this case, played through a Moog synth! Now for a little historical context, Wendy Carlos is one of the people that put electronic music on the map with her first Switched-On Bach album. I chose to listen to the sequel because it has my favorite Bach piece on it, "Sheep May Safely Graze". Oh what beautiful tones Wendy Carlos is album to pull from this beast of synthesizer! And pairing some of the most beautiful synthesized tones with some of the prettiest sounding music is a match made in heaven. It's even better with this amazing stereo mix which very nicely emulates the feeling of actually hearing it from an orchestra with how wide it sounds. While I obviously think "Sheep May Safely Graze" is the best track on the album many of the tracks stand out on their own as well, such as BWV 783 or the Affettuoso from the Brandenburg Concerto No. 5. Truly a masterpiece in the large catalog of electronic music, if only it was on streaming. 10/10
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