Product Description
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As her hands dance around the instrument's antennas,
Lydia Kavina proves the theremin is no mere producer of Hollywood
sound effects. Russian theremin virtuoso Kavina presents the
first release EVER dedicated solely to original compositions for
the instrument - spanning the "golden age" of the theremin from
its invention in the 1920s to contemporary works. One of the
first attempts to unite music and scientific technology in the
20th century, the theremin is considered to be the ancestor of
modern electronic musical instruments. Its evolution from
scientific curiosity (discussed in scientific journals and
manufactured by RCA) to virtuoso classical instrument (played by
Clara Rockmore in Carnegie Hall) to "instrument of the future"
(according to Cage, Varse, Grainger and others) to Hollywood
sound effect (played in soundtracks to Spellbound, The Day the
Earth Stood Still, The Lost Weekend, etc.) to rock-and-roll
instrument (used by The Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin, Phish,
Portishead and others) has been well documented. This disc is
full of discoveries, including Martinu's Fantasia, and Percy
Grainger's graphically notated Free Music #1 (1935) for 4
theremins, along with other "period" works by Schillinger (known
for his writings on music and as a guru to composers from
Gershwin to Earle Brown) and Isidor Achron (the accompanist to
Heifetz). Modern works are represented by Kavina herself,
Brazilian Jorge Antunes (with electronic tape) and Russian
Vladimir Komarov, whose work also incorporates the inventor's
voice and a rendition of Glinka's infamous The Lark, which
Theremin had performed for Lenin to demonstrate the instrument.
Lydia Kavina is the world's leading thereminist today. The
granddaughter of Leon Theremin's first cousin, she was the
inventor's last protge. She began studying the instrument with
him at the age of nine, and was concertizing by age fourteen.
Since then, Kavina has given over 500 performances. She has also
appeared in Howard Shore's soundtracks to eXistenZ and the
O-winning movie Ed Wood, and has performed in the Tom
Waits/Robert Wilson collaborations Alice and The Black Rider.
Kavina now serves on the lecture staff of The Glinka Museum and
is affiliated with the Theremin Center, both in Moscow.
.com
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The theremin may be one of the oddest instruments ever
invented: the electronic device's high-pitched sound resembles no
other--and you never even touch it to play it. It's become
familiar from that novel Beach Boys (
/exec/obidos/ts/artist-glance/1998/%24%7B0%7D ) solo on "Good
Vibrations" and the occasional sci-fi score sound bite, but it's
seldom thought of as the serious instrument its inventor Leon
Theremin wanted it to be. This , like the must-have
Clara Rockmore disc, The Art of the Theremin (
/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000006U6/%24%7B0%7D ), attempts to change
that. Lydia Kavina might very well be the best thereminist
playing today; she's the inventor's last protégée (as well as
being the granddaughter of his cousin) and her range on the
instrument is unparalleled. Here, she tackles the body of work
made specifically for the instrument from the likes of Joseph
Schillinger, Bohuslav Martinu, Percy Grainger, Isidor Achron, and
a handful of contemporary composers. Grainger's "Free Music #1"
for four theremins eerily defies the bounds of written
composition (Kavina plays all four theremin roles); Kavina's own
Suite is an impressive showpiece of the instrument's range; and
Vladimir Komarov's tape-and-theremin piece "Voice of Theremin" is
built entirely of passages from the instrument and the voice of
Theremin himself, all processed through a computer with stunning
results. Martinu's Fantasia for Theremin, Oboe, Piano, and
Strings is the disc's real charm: a 14-minute composition with
plenty of oboe-theremin interplay and lovely string passages from
the Portland String Quartet. For the classical fan who has
everything, this disc may be the perfect gift. --Jason Verlinde