The possibility of synthesized sound is not a new one. Synths have been around since the mid-1960s, with inventors like Robert Moog, who created one of the first commercially available synths on the market in 1964. Moog synths began a revolution in music that still impacts us today.
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument that generates sounds using oscillators. Sometimes there is a single one, and sometimes multiple oscillators can be combined in ingenious ways to create new sounds. 1970 saw the Minimoog come to the market, and in many ways, this defined the build and format of synths for years.
Essentially, the Minimoog was a monophonic synth with a built-in keyboard, three VCO (Voltage Controlled Oscillators), filters, envelope control, and an LFO (Low-Frequency Oscillator).
Synthesized Instruments Impact on Classical Compositions
Later synths became increasingly sophisticated, eventually including microprocessors and MIDI capabilities. Both the Prophet-5 and the Yamaha DX7 became iconic synths, the latter adorning the stages of numerous 1980s bands.
Interestingly, in recent years, a considerable number of these synths have undergone a regeneration and are (albeit slightly improved) available to purchase. Equally, many emulations of these legendary synths appear as VSTs on DAWs like Logic Pro X, where there is no need to spend hundreds of dollars or pounds on the real thing.
The Theremin: An Important Forerunner
I just want to mention an important forerunner to the synths mentioned above that has played, and continues to do so, a vital role in 21st-century compositions. Russian scientist Leon Theremin created an electronic instrument named after him: the Theremin.
This, if you’ve never seen or heard it, is a truly astonishing instrument. The performer (the thereminist) plays the device without touching it. A single antenna stands out of the instrument. One hand acts as a controller for frequency (oscillators), and the other for amplitude (volume). This signal is amplified through a loudspeaker.
The Theremin produces a chilling, eerie sound like a cross between a lyric soprano and a musical saw. A surprisingly large number of classical composers have written for the Theremin, some more effectively than others.
Percy Grainger, Bohuslav Martinu, and Edgard Varese composed Equatorial for two Theremin cellos and percussion (1934). You’ll also hear a similar sound in Messiaen’s Turangalila Symphony (1946-48), but this is actually an Ondes Martenot.
Composers and Their Contributions
What the synthesizer offers the 21st-century composer is an almost limitless palette of sonorities. The only limitations are imagination and time. This is especially true today as synths are not only relatively cheap to buy but also relatively simple to use in the studio or live performance.
Wendy Carlos is probably the single most important composer specializing in electronic music alive today. Her contribution to this genre of music, and much more besides, is nothing short of remarkable.
Carlos smashed into the public music scene with her Moog-driven album Switched-On Bach (1968). This album not only propelled Moog Synths into the musical arena but became a platinum-selling classical album in the US.
This is only a tiny fraction of the work Carlos has completed during her reclusive life. Many albums are re-imaginings of classical works, like the one named above, but also many that demonstrate Carlos’s immense skill with the genre on her own terms.
Focusing for a moment on one album, Carlos titled Sonic Seasonings (1971/72), I feel is a stunning illustration of Carlos’s ephemeral style and immensely prophetic ingenuity.
Carlos states that the album (now available on two re-mastered CDs) is not intentionally classical, jazz, or popular in style or genre but music to assemble music that had a much longer span and overall arch than most contemporary music of the time.
The meticulous attention to structural detail and sonic invention make this album a milestone in electronic music composition. Each section is based loosely on a season but not intentionally programmatic.
Instead, the music should, as Carlos describes, flow over you. It also foreshadows the minimalist movement as well as the advent of sound design, making this all the more important.
Carlos succeeded in ways that almost no other composer of the time had in fully embracing the new possibilities of electronic music production in combination with natural sounds and common acoustic instruments and voices.
Her work in the film industry also revolutionized the idea of a soundtrack. If you want to explore this further, listen to the scores for Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange or the original version of Tron.
Isao Tomita (1932-2016) is another example of a composer who built a career on the shoulders of the classical masters. His extensive output of music unashamedly propelled classical music into the 21st century. Tomita devoted years to exploiting current technological developments in his arrangements and re-working works from the Masters.
His music is not simply a reproduction of pre-existing material, as he incorporates sound design alongside intricate synthesis in the work he produces. In many ways, Tomita’s work opened the doors for later innovation in genres like synth-pop and trance.
Tomita’s re-workings of pieces from the classical repertoire almost provide a historic account of the changing and developing nature of the synthesizer as well as recording techniques. The large number of compositions from Debussy to Honegger work as an insightful window into what can be achieved through sound synthesis.
Contemporary Use of Synthesizers
American composer John Adams (1947) has long since joined the ranks of creatives embracing the synthesizer revolution. As one of the most free-thinking composers of our age, Adams is never slow to adopt and imbibe whatever suits his creative focus.
In his 1995 songplay titled ‘I Was Looking At the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky’, Adams goes all guns blazing into the electronic world.
The score draws on the tradition of musical theatre that holds such a strong position in the psyche of the population of the US. Adams scores the work for three mezzo-sopranos, two tenors, and two baritone voices. The band consists of two reed players, three keyboards (samplers), electric and bass guitars, plus MIDI kit drums.
Adams uses synthesizers to recreate the effect (highly successfully) of a pop band. There are twenty-five songs in the songplay in which Adams cleverly melds his distinctive style with popular song elements. It’s a fine example of contemporary composers who use electronic technology.
A further composition that shows how effectively synthesizers can combine with more traditional forces in creating new sonorities is Adams’s orchestral work titled El Dorado (1991). Amongst the more expected orchestral forces, Adams includes two keyboard samplers that bring an exciting dimension to this provocative score.
Conclusion
The above are but a few illustrations of how electronic innovation, notable in the form of synthesizers and samplers, has pushed forward the compositional opportunities for composers.
Synthesizers have become a feature of many film scores, pioneered in no small way by Wendy Carlos. They present an almost endless set of possibilities, and for the composer looking to create a genuinely unique soundworld, they are a compelling place to start.