‘Bachbusters’ Creator Back With ‘Beethoven or Bust’ : Anaheim Man Looking for Another No. 1 CD

The album that finally bumped the “Amadeus” sound track from its 32-week reign at the top of Billboard’s classical CD chart was not recorded by a renowned orchestra or soloist, or connected to any Oscar-winning film.

The upstart CD, which went on to its own 14-week run as No. 1, was created in the bedroom studio of an Anaheim townhouse by a man whose previous claim to fame was recording the sound track for Disneyland’s “Main Street Electrical Parade.”

Welcome to the world of Don Dorsey, the 34-year-old creator of 1986’s “Bachbusters.” The high-tech collection of electronically interpreted J.S. Bach compositions found an instant audience among stereo buffs looking to show off their new compact disc players, though it ran into some resistance from critics, whose response ranged from enthusiastic to vitriolic.

Dorsey is back, and this time he has taken on another classical heavyweight in “Beethoven or Bust.” The folks at his label, Cleveland-based Telarc records, were eager for more synthesized Bach, but Dorsey opted for Ludwig Van, a decision that record buyers seem to be accepting, because the newly released collection entered Billboard’s classical crossover chart last week at No. 7.

“I didn’t want to do another Bach because that seemed the obvious thing to do, and also the easiest thing to do,” Dorsey said, relaxing in the living room of his Anaheim home. “Although a lot of people were writing and asking for it, I really felt that I had to challenge myself.”

Dorsey was attracted by the musical differences between Bach and Beethoven. “Bach was very methodical; you can kind of hear his music developing and predict where it’s going to go.

“Beethoven tends to surprise you more because his music comes not purely from his brain, but from his soul, from his emotions. . . . So I thought it would be a real interesting challenge to coax some of this emotion out of the synthesizer, which many people feel is cold and sterile and digital.”

Some critics who heard “Bachbusters” thought exactly that: “These recordings avoid any trace of humanity or expression,” wrote one in The Times. Dorsey also received a few knocks for taking some interpretational leeway with Bach’s music--adding bass and drum sounds to the third movement of the “Italian” concerto, for instance.

“Although I have frequently said that Bach is indestructible, Dorsey’s album . . . forces me to withdraw that statement,” Stoddard Lincoln wrote in Stereo Review.

But there were plaudits as well. American Record Guide solved the critical dilemma by publishing two reviews side by side, one enthusiastic and one scathing.

“Beethoven or Bust” will only add fuel to the fire. Among the potential offenses to the purist sensibility: a version of Bagatelle No. 7, performed with digitally sampled car horns; Sonata No. 18, Op. 31, dubbed by Dorsey the “Western” Sonata and recorded with mock gunshots; a recording of the popular “Fur Elise,” performed at twice the standard tempo with electronic drums and horns.

“Purists are purists, and revolutionaries are revolutionaries,” Dorsey said. “I think even the purists are divided among themselves.

“I think a real purist is not a person who says, ‘Well, this was meant to be played on a piano. It should only be played on a piano,’ but a person who says, ‘This gives me another perspective on Beethoven’s work, and I want to know about it.’ ”

Still, it is not always easy to shrug off a bad review. “I try not to take it personally. Of course, you always feel a little embarrassed when somebody says you’ve done a bad job, but there’s a lot of things that go into their decision,” Dorsey said. “I may have done a bad job, and everybody else (who bought the album) may be wrong. You just never know, so you take the good with the bad. That’s life.”

In any case, the popular support was surprising even to Dorsey. “Telarc had hoped, and I had hoped, that, ‘Gee, someday I’d like to have a No. 1 record.’ But we never dreamed that it would be the first one out.”

The success of the first album has led to high hopes for “Beethoven or Bust.”

“I think ‘Bachbusters’ really opened some eyes, and I think they’re still open. I’m excited to think that I have another opportunity to reach more people,” Dorsey said.

“I think we have, to some extent, a built-in audience: people who liked ‘Bachbusters’ will probably like this, and many of them have been waiting for this. . . .”

Other collections of synthesized classical compositions have appeared since “Bachbusters,” but none so far has matched its popularity.

“I think if I had to say what makes ‘Bachbusters’ or ‘Beethoven’ different from anybody (else’s), it would just be that probably the approach is different,” Dorsey said. “I try not to be afraid to do things that are ridiculous. I don’t have any preconceived ideas of what it is I’m trying to do. I just experiment, and when I find something that works, I’ll do it.”

Dorsey’s process for creating the new album was much the same as for “Bachbusters.” He started planning the project in November, 1986, settled on the Beethoven concept last March and spent the next several months listening to the composer’s works and deciding which ones to put on the album. He then learned to play each work he chose and began recording in May of last year.

“Our view of the future in the ‘50s was all like the Jetsons, where you just kind of sat in a chair and the chair would zip you across the room, and you’d say ‘Coffee please,’ and the coffee would come bustling out to you, and make itself, and the TV would turn itself on and that generally, people would have not very much to do, except enjoy the technology,” Dorsey said.

“That isn’t exactly what’s happened, at least in the production business. . . . Because we have all these options now, because we have all these things we can do, we have to do them. (Electronic musician) Wendy Carlos said many years ago, ‘Any parameter that you can control, you must control,’ and it’s really true.

“You have to consider every option. Is this note long enough? Is this note loud enough? Is it the right chord? Should I add a note here? Should this be an octave up? Should this be an octave down? Is this the right sound? And before long you find that the technology is not saving you time but actually eating it up. You’re working much harder with your brain.”

Some pieces on the new album, such as the Bagatelle No. 7 with car horns (a treatment inspired by a freeway accident last year in which Dorsey was a passenger), take a whimsical approach to the music of Beethoven. Others are played straight, such as a relatively unadorned version of the “Moonlight” Sonata. A common thread is that Dorsey does not try to emulate the sounds of real instruments but creates synthesized sounds that he thinks fit the mood of the music.

“Aren’t there better things to do with your time than try to be something you’re not, and fool people? I’m not interested in fooling people,” Dorsey said.

“ ‘Bachbusters,’ and also ‘Beethoven,’ were really designed as multi-use projects. First and foremost, it has to be music. It has to convey the intent of the composer. Second, it has to be a good piece of synthesizer work.

“Thirdly, it has to be a demonstration disc . . . (and) that’s really the end result of using the medium. You have this incredible ability with digital--the ability to be loud and shake the room, and to be quiet and not hear any hiss. And to not use that is like buying a Mercedes and leaving it in your garage. People expect and want the music on compact disc to take advantage of the fact that it is on compact disc. It would be, I think, a failure on my part if I didn’t use the capabilities that were there.”

A lifelong Orange County resident who studied music at Fullerton College and Cal State Fullerton, Dorsey has worked as a consultant for Disney for 11 years, since, at 23, he was asked to coordinate the Bicentennial-themed “America on Parade.”

He went on to arrange and perform the sound track for the revamped “Main Street Electrical Parade” in 1977 and with partner Adam Bezark designed shows for Epcot Center’s World Showcase Lagoon.

His work with Disney has continued since “Bachbusters,” with the new $10-million “IllumiNations” show at Epcot Center. Dorsey’s electronic medley of classical favorites from an earlier production was re-recorded for the new show with the Toronto Symphony. (“Maybe that makes me the first synthesizer player in history to be replaced by an orchestra,” he quipped).

He and Bezark also produced the show that celebrated the 50th birthday of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

Dorsey would like to release an album of his own electronic compositions and to do some film sound-track work. But for now, he is concentrating on promoting his electronic versions of works by the classical composers.

“It would be great if there was some way to know these men, to talk with them and find out what their senses of humor were and just to get a direct feel (for their personalities). Maybe some day we’ll all be in heaven together and I’ll say, ‘What did you think of “Beethoven or Bust”?’ and he’ll say, ‘Ah, get out of here. I don’t want to see you.’ But we’ll never know, so there’s little point in arguing about it, I guess,” Dorsey said.

“I hope people realize that I’m not advocating that all music be done on synthesizers because it’s the way it should be, that it’s better.

“It’s just different.”