Music from the Ether: Original Works for Theremin

Joseph Schillinger (Composer), Friedrich Wilckens (Composer), Percy Grainger (Composer), Bohuslav Martinu (Composer), Isidor Achron (Composer), Lydia Kavina (Composer), Jorge Antunes (Composer), Vladimir Komarov (Composer), Joshua Pierce (Performer, Composer), Elizabeth Parcells (Performer), Joshua Pierce (Artist), Elizabeth Parcells (Artist), Carol Eaton Elowe (Artist), Kristen Fox (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Joshua Pierce, Elizabeth Parcells
• Composer: Joseph Schillinger, Friedrich Wilckens, Percy Grainger, Bohuslav Martinu, Isidor Achron, et al.
• Audio CD (June 22, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Mode
• ASIN: B00000J8RP
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #66,342 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #45 in Music > Classical > Instruments > Electronic

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

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 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 recording, like the must-have Clara Rockmore disc, The Art of the Theremin, 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

Product Description

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, Varse, 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 protŽgŽe. 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 Oscar-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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Theremin as an instrument, not a curiosity, April 29, 2002

By 

Steve Bryson (Corte Madera, CA United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Music from the Ether: Original Works for Theremin (Audio CD)

This is a great album. I particularly like Lydia Kavina's original compositions, where the Theremin is clearly the ideal instrument.

Kavina's use of the Theremin is much more effective than Clara Rockmore's. While Rockmore's recordings show skill and ability, I cannot imagine anyone saying "yes, the Theremin is the ideal instrument" for the music on Rockmore's album. Speaking as an electronic musician who loves to explore the frontiers of music, I feel that under Rockmore the Theremin's appeal was more for its curiosity than for its appropriateness to the music.

With Lydia Kavina we have a different situation entirely. The music is ideal for the Theremin, and many of the compositions (particularly Kavina's) have real emotional power. I cannot imagine these pieces played with any other instrument (besides a synthesizer programmed to sound like a theremin).

Lydia Kavina is exploring a new musical space, appropriate to the Theremin. This album gives a fine sampling of that space, hopefully hinting at more to come.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kavina Is The Greatest!, May 19, 2000

By 

David J Candy - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Music from the Ether: Original Works for Theremin (Audio CD)

After listening to this disque repeatedly, I would now dare put forth the notion that Lydia Kavina may have proven to the world that she is the greatest thereminist of all - even better than the legendary Clara Rockmore.

Whilst Rockmore may be the better performer in a solo/piano accompaniment setting, she very rarely played in an emsemble setting with the rest of the 'serious' instruments found in the orchestra.

Kavina's real strength is in her ability to successfully mesh the unique sound of the thereminvox with other orchestral instruments. Her rendition of Bohuslav Martinu's "Fantasy For Thereminvox, Oboe, Piano and Strings" (the second-most overlooked and forgotten piece of classical-electronic music - the first being, of course, Darius Milhaiud's "Suite for Ondes-Martenot And Piano") is truly incredible.

For those of you listeners who appreciate how well the oboe and viola work and sound together, Ms. Kavina creates the same effect with the thereminvox and oboe in Martinu's work. Unlike Rockmore's novelty-sound in "The Art Of The Theremin", Kavina makes the thereminvox work as capable and as successful as any of the more 'convential' instruments found on the disque.

The music featured on this disque is as bright and fresh as "The Art Of The Theremin" sounds like muzak for the funeral home.

If you need further proof of the ability of this performer, then check out Kavina's brilliant work on the "Ed Wood" soundtrack.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Overall, February 27, 2002

By 

A. S. Templeton (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Music from the Ether: Original Works for Theremin (Audio CD)

Miss Kavina is a very talented thereminist, certainly up there with the likes of Clara Rockmore and Samuel J. Hoffman.

Nevertheless her choices in repertoire for this CD are mostly forgettable. Free Music #1 for four theremins (1936) was no doubt very avant garde at the time, but it's no more listenable now than then.

Also the timbre of her instrument in most of the pieces varies from overtone-less sinewave to drinking-straw nasal buzz, with nothing pleasant in between. Absent are the sweet, second-harmonic and pitch/time-variant harmonics that make Rockmore's ancient thermionic custom machine so nice to listen to.

But nevertheless Miss Kavina is to be applauded for helping keep the theremin visible in the electronic music field, with her emphasis on live performance and traditional musicianship, rebuffing the studioism and MIDI-ization of the last three decades.

Definitely a worthy addition to all theremin enthusiasts' CD shelves.