What better way to test our new embedded video player (thanks Doron!) than by serving up a hot batch of theremin footage.
On the left (above), it's theremin virtuosa, teacher and composer (and grand-niece of inventor Leon Theremin!) Lydia Kavina giving a great performance of Debussy's Clair De Lune on The James Whale Radio Show, on late night British TV. Lydia might be better known for WFMU listeners for her appearances with the German-Russian duo known as Messer Chups and Messer Fur Frau Muller. Thanks to 42hz.
On the right, it's Japan's King of the Theremin Masami Takeuchi performing Saint-Saens' Ly Cygne (The Swan). More info, and an interview with Takeuchi here. Thanks to Chirorinmura.
On the left (above), we have Jon Spencer playing/abusing a theremin from a fake children's TV show (I think). This was produced for a Matador video compilation, perhaps this one. On the right, it's the great Samuel Hoffman performing "a popular dance melody" on the 1953 TV show You Asked For It. Several years before this performance, Hoffman scored performed on Hitchcock's Spellbound soundtrack as well as the theremin-laden score for The Day The Earth Stood Still. In 1966-67, Hoffman played with Captain
Beefheart on The Magic Band's Electricity and Safe as Milk. Thanks to abbasidanyal for The Jon Spencer clip and to weirdvideos1 for the Hoffman footage.
On the left, a dry demonstration of the theremin which illustrates the theremin's functionality, the vertical element controlling pitch and the horizontal element controlling volume. On the right, Leon Theremin himself in 1991 at age 95, teaching Paul Lansky how to play Glinka's Skylark, the same tune Theremin once taught Lenin to play. Thanks to grimtim2 for the Leon Theremin video and Randy George of the The Ether and Aether Experiment for the demo.
Back in the 90's when WFMU ran our Catalog of Curiosities, one of the most popular items we sold were theremin kits made by Paia known as the Theremax. They worked great and weren't too difficult to put together. Playing them was another story - I drove a lot of people crazy while trying to learn how to play the melody line from Good Vibrations.
Other theremin recources:
Theremin World | Thereminvox.com | Wikipedia Theremin Page | Theremin.info
Theremin Club Enthusiasts International | Oddmusic's Theremin Page
Arg, non of that works on the lj feed. I'm not sure there's anything you can do about it, they block certain code. (And recently allowed code from YouTube.)
Posted by: jim | March 11, 2007 at 11:32 PM
The music to "The Day The Earth Stood Still" is by the great Bernard Herrmann, and the score for "Spellbound" is by Miklos Rozsa. Samuel Hoffman plays theremin on both soundtracks.
There's also footage around of Clara Rockmore playing theremin. She was the first great virtuoso on this nutty instrument, working closely with Leon T. himself for many years. I don't have a URL handy... but Google would.
Posted by: woid | March 12, 2007 at 12:11 AM
I thought some readers might like to know that the sounds on "Good Vibrations" are actually those of Paul Tanner playing the Electro-Theremin, an instrument he helped to invent. From Wikipedia:
"The Electro-Theremin is a electronic musical instrument developed by trombonist Paul Tanner and amateur inventor Bob Whitsell in the late 1950s to produce a sound to mimic that of the theremin. The instrument features a tone and portamento similar to that of the theremin (or thereminvox), but with a different control mechanism.
The instrument was custom-built at Tanner's request. Tanner appreciated the theremin's sound, but wanted greater control of pitch and attack. The Electro-Theremin uses mechanical controls, a long slide bar for the pitch (analogous to the slide of the trombone that was Tanner's main instrument) and a knob to adjust volume. This contrasts with the hand movements in space that was the original theremin's signal feature. The Electro-Theremin also produces a slightly less complex timbre than the original, because all sounds are created using a single sine wave audio oscillator rather than the theremin's mixture of two heterodyning oscillators. Few people, however, can detect any difference in the sound."
Had me fooled for years.
Posted by: Clayton | March 12, 2007 at 05:05 AM
mein powerbook with firefox no likey.
Posted by: Steve | March 12, 2007 at 08:40 AM
ouu
come on
keep it downloadable!
p.s. works fine on opera
Posted by: yf | March 12, 2007 at 11:41 AM
Thanks for everybody's comments. vf - we will still offer videos for download, don't worry. I'd like to offer them both ways actually - as an embedded streaming video as well as a download.
-ken
Posted by: Station Manager Ken | March 12, 2007 at 12:07 PM
It works perfectly on my iBook with Firefox.
Posted by: Lukas | March 12, 2007 at 12:29 PM
(Working on Safari)
"The Dying Swan" is a ballet using the music of "The Swan" from the Carnival of the Animals. Picky.
I also have one of those Theremaxs and they are hard to play because they drift in pitch a lot. WFMU blog fans will know to seek out the Theremin documentary made by Steven M. Martin (not the comedian):
Theremin - An Electronic Odyssey (1995). It features lots of obscure Theremin footage and Clara Rockmore meeting Leon Termin after about 40 years separation.
Posted by: Henry Lowengard | March 12, 2007 at 02:13 PM
Thank you!
A really great collection, and a really clean player!
I am going to check on ebay for a Theremin now.
Posted by: The Actually Does | March 12, 2007 at 05:03 PM
What, no Mike Love??
Posted by: vmh | March 12, 2007 at 10:08 PM
The Lydia Kavina clip is from The James Whale Radio Show, on late night British TV.
Posted by: Gordon charlton | March 13, 2007 at 06:47 AM
One of the finest theremin-slingers around these days is a guy named Blake Jones. His last album (with the band Trike Shop) has a t'min rendition of Miserlou and their MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/trikeshop) has a monstrously cool t'min/bongos track, Astronauts In Trouble. That's some tasty hand-wavin'...
Posted by: James A. Gardner | March 13, 2007 at 04:50 PM
That swan's not dying. He's getting better! I think perhaps you're confusing the 'dying swan' in Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" with the swan (just plain "The Swan") in the Carnival of the Animals.
Theremin's a great instrument, though. By coincidence, I was listening to a cut by Clara Rockmore just today. I've been allowed to play with the instrument a couple of times. In 7th grade, someone was demonstrating one in front of the whole school. I was in the front row, and when they asked for a volunteer, I didn't even raise my hand. I just stood up and took a step forward. The most recent time was last year. At my advanced age in life, I am now well aware of just how much I'd have to learn in order to attempt to play one of those bad boys.
Posted by: Kip W | March 13, 2007 at 06:52 PM
Posted by: bla | May 06, 2007 at 09:42 AM