Waves in the Ether: The Magical World of the Theremin
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Conductor: Les BaxterConductor: Harry Revel
Conductor: Billy May
Performer: Samuel J. Hoffman
Edition: Music CD
Format: Import
CD Release Date: 2004-02-02
Music Label: Rev-Ola
Soundtracks:
- Lunar Rhapsody
- Moon Moods
- Lunette
- Celestial Nocturne
- Mist O' The Moon
- Radar Blues
- Toujours Moi
- Tzigane
- Possession
- L'ardent Nuit
- Jet
- Fame
- This Room Is My Castle Of Quiet
- Darkness Gives Me You Again
- Remembering Your Lips
- My Troubles Float Away Like Fallen Lives
- Your Soft Hand On My Brow
- I Dream Of A Past Love
Music reviews of Waves in the Ether: The Magical World of the Theremin
Music Review: Les Baxter, too!
Rating: 4 Stars
This is a single-disc version of DR. SAMUEL J. HOFFMAN AND THE THEREMIN, a package of 3 discs replicating 3 very brief (avg. time 17 minutes) albums recorded between 1947 and 1950. The charm of that 3-disc collection is that each album is in its own sleeve, but the price is high for just 51 minutes of music. This newer disc, the cover of which is that of the third album, a 1950 Billy May-directed project entitled MUSIC FOR PEACE OF MIND, is thankfully less pricey.
Much of the music here is fairly tame cocktail stuff - all of it composed by Harry Revel - and nothing at all like the film work Dr. Hoffman had done in, for example, Hitchcock (and Dali)'s SPELLBOUND or would be called upon to do in the 1950s. The collection was a disappointment to me in that regard, but as I'm a Les Baxter fan and 2 of the 3 original albums were Baxter/Hoffman projects, I enjoy the opportunity to hear some of Baxter's pre-Nat Cole work nonetheless.
The first album, MUSIC OUT OF THE MOON, is mostly doo-wah pop vocals. The theremin might double the vocal line or take an occasional solo. The selections sound little like what one might expect given the evocative titles, but then, this was four years prior to THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL and THE THING.
The second album, PERFUME SET TO MUSIC, is unquestionably exotica in spirit. There's more variety of sound and mood and Dr. Hoffman's solos are more free - anticipatory of the vocalise for which Baxter would become renowned in the 1950s with Yma Sumac. Nice! I know that at least one of these tunes, "Jet", was released on 45 at the time of this recording (on RCA Victor), billed as "Orchestra and Chorus under the direction of Leslie Baxter / Samuel Hoffman - theremin", since I myself have it.
The Billy May album may be my favorite of the three. The theremin is front and center from the outset. The ensemble playing is better and the piano work stronger. Also, the sound is opened up - not so squelched as in the older Baxter projects. The whole thing is vigorous, if not quite as enchanting as the Baxter PERFUME recording.
Go for it. At this price, what's really to lose?
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