Where is Wendy Carlos? (2019)

culturedmag.com

3 points·rectang··2 comments

The relative difficulty of finding Wendy Carlos recordings came up in the thread on Bach. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23393234

> As DeLuca says: "It is okay that Wendy Carlos is private and that she makes her music difficult to find; it makes her music more special."

I doubt the scarcity is a marketing ploy, though HN's entrepreneurs might find that aspect interesting to analyze. My guess is that Carlos is financially secure, has gotten all she wants out of her career in entertainment, and doesn't want to engage publicly any more.

At 80 years of age not wanting to deal with society beyond a close circle of trusted people is not all that strange, even if one doesn't consider poor health and the general effects of the deterioration of body and mind at that age.

Her works are available, just not in a form accessible to the majority — sometimes her albums can be found on CD or vinyl in second-hand shops, but lossless FLAC copies are of course available on-line here and there. Obviously, the latter likely run foul of copyright laws, but her music will be available for future generations.

I always wonder what creators think of the issue of their legacy. Some are meticulous, or even downright cruel about it (Prince comes to mind), but I guess some just don't see it as their problem any more.

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