Music from the Ether: Original Works for Theremin
List Price:
Our Price: $14.02
You Save: $3.96 (22%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $11.76 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
CD Details
Composer: Joseph SchillingerComposer: Friedrich Wilckens
Composer: Percy Grainger
Composer: Bohuslav Martinu
Composer: Isidor Achron
Composer: Lydia Kavina
Composer: Jorge Antunes
Composer: Vladimir Komarov
Performer: Joshua Pierce
Composer: Joshua Pierce
Performer: Elizabeth Parcells
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1999-06-22
Music Label: Mode
Soundtracks:
- Joseph Schillinger: Melody
- Joseph Schillinger: Mouvement Â?lectrique et pathÂ?tique
- Friedrich Wilckens: Dance in the Moon
- Percy Grainger: Free Music #1 for four theremins
- Bohuslav Martinu: Fantasia
- Isidor Achron: Improvisation
- Lydia Kavina: Suite - 1. Andante
- Lydia Kavina: Suite - 2. Moderato
- Lydia Kavina: Suite - 3. Lento
- Lydia Kavina: In Whims of the Wind
- Jorge Antunes: Mixolydia Jorge Antunes
- Vladimir Komarov: Voice of Theremin
Music reviews of Music from the Ether: Original Works for Theremin
Music Review: A new experience
Rating: 4 Stars
The album "Music from the Ether: Original Works for Theremin" exhibited to me the wide range of possibilities of electronic music, other than the noise, robotic, futuristic music that is hard for me to understand and appreciate. In the album, the theremin, electrical music and orchestral ensemble are neatly blended together. The "Fantasia" in the album would be the best example of such synthesis. In the piece, the theremin was primarily used for the main rhythm of the piece, while the orchestral ensemble was bringing into play the accompany rhythm and background music. The piece has everything that resembled classical orchestra, other than having the electronic instrument the theremin in the orchestra. In the piece the theremin successfully blended into the orchestra; for those who do not know what they heard, it would be easy to have mistaken the theremin as a violin or one of the wind instruments.
In contrast to the soothing nature of the piece" Fantasia", the last piece in the album, "Voice Of Theremin", appeared to be something totally different. Rather than using the theremin with the orchestral ensemble through out the piece, the piece appeared to ensemble the usual ideal of computer/ electrical music most of the time. The use of a bird singing as well as the human voices in the piece also brings about much resemblance of the style of music, musique concrete, a style that takes common noises from the real world and applying it on musical compositions. With the addition of tape work, the pieces sounded like and resembled much of the characteristics that one can find in the computer music of the 1960s with the application of synthesizer and sequencer. For almost two thirds of the piece, the main rhythm did not seem to have existed neither with the theremin nor the electrical/ tape music. However toward the end of the piece, an impressive synthesis of the theremin and tape work was finally presented, with the theremin playing the main rhythm. The composer adopted various noises through out the piece, generating much of a dissonant, inharmonic feeling through out the composition, creating much tension and uneasiness; with which one can find its root in the early years of electrical music while Satie and Schoberg were trying to break away from the mainstream music. Aside from the unpleasant feeling that the piece gives, the piece does a good job in demonstrating the wide variety of sounds that the theremin is capable to make.
The album "Music from the Ether: Original Works for Theremin" could be seen as two different sections: the first nine pieces of the album that showcase the perfect harmony of the incorporation of the electronic instrument, the theremin, with orchestral ensemble in classical music and the last three pieces that stood contrast, demonstrating a whole different realm of music, the technosonics with a feel of the synthesizer and musique concrete added to it. With the two sections focusing on two contrasting field of music, they would obviously appeal to very different audiences. If one is looking for a taste of the colorful nature of the theremin, or is looking for some relaxing background music that one can enjoy, this album "Music from the Ether: Original Works for Theremin," would definitely do the charm and brighten your day.
Description of Music from the Ether: Original Works for Theremin
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 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.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
Classical CDs
Music Genres
Bestsellers in Classical CDs
Winterscapesby London Philharmonic
Prophetic Voice; Published: 2000-07; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $2.75
Price in other shops:
The Queen, the Bear, & the Bumblebeeby Dini Petty
Children's Group; Published: 2001-03; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $13.38
Price in other shops:
Classical Kids - Beethoven Lives Upstairs CdrRelease date: 2000-04-05; Music CD
Best price: $24.98
Tchaikovsky (Life and Works (Naxos))by Malcolm Sinclair, Jeremy Siepmann
Naxos; Published: 2003-11; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $35.99
![Jose Carreras - Jubileum Concert [VHS] Image](/images/Jose-Carreras-Jubileum-Concert-VHS-1584481471-X.jpg){kind=small}
Jose Carreras - Jose Carreras - Jubileum Concert [VHS]Sling Shot; Release date: 2000-04-18; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $5.86
Price in other shops:
![Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker / Nureyev, Park, Royal Ballet [VHS] Image](/images/Tchaikovsky-The-Nutcracker-Nureyev-Park-Royal-Ballet-VHS-156127092X-X.jpg){kind=small}
Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker / Nureyev, Park, Royal Ballet [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1997-09-09; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.89
Price in other shops:
![Lonely Town Lonley Street / Sergeant's Early Dream [VHS] Image](/images/Lonely-Town-Lonley-Street-Sergeant-Early-Dream-VHS-1561270857-X.jpg){kind=small}
Rambert Dance Company - Lonely Town Lonley Street / Sergeant's Early Dream [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1997-10-28; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $14.99
Price in other shops:
Winter Music: Composing the Northby John Luther Adams
Wesleyan; Published: 2004-11-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $21.90
Price in other shops:
![Puccini - La Fanciulla del West / Santi, Domingo, Neblett, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS] Image](/images/Puccini-La-Fanciulla-del-West-Santi-Domingo-Neblett-Royal-Opera-Covent-Garden-VHS-0769720382-X.jpg){kind=small}
Puccini - La Fanciulla del West / Santi, Domingo, Neblett, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1999-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $6.38
Price in other shops:
![Verdi - Falstaff / Giulini, Bruson, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS] Image](/images/Verdi-Falstaff-Giulini-Bruson-Ricciarelli-Nucci-Royal-Opera-Covent-Garden-VHS-0769720358-X.jpg){kind=small}
Verdi - Falstaff / Giulini, Bruson, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1999-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $12.95
Price in other shops:
Similar CDs
Bebe Barron, Louis Barron - Forbidden Planet: Original MGM SoundtrackRelease date: 1956-09-01; Music CD
Best price: $15.61
Touch! Don't Touch! - Music for ThereminRelease date: 2006-12-12; Music CD
Best price: $20.75
Price in other shops:
Theremin - An Electronic OdysseyVARIOUS; Release date: 2001-07-24; DVD
Best price: $6.68
Price in other shops:
Lydia Kavina - Spellbound: ThereminRelease date: 2008-07-22; Music CD
Best price: $11.29
Price in other shops:
Lost Theremin AlbumRelease date: 2006-12-26; Music CD
Best price: $12.94
Price in other shops:
Armen Ra - Plays The ThereminRelease date: 2010-05-26; Music CD
Best price: $8.98
Clara Rockmore - The Art Of The ThereminRelease date: 1992-12-14; Music CD
Best price: $7.35
Price in other shops: