Carolina Eyck "Spellbound Concerto"

About the recording

Spellbound Concerto by Mikos Rosza, live with Berlin Philharmonie, theremin soloist is Carolina Eyck. Spellbound is probably the first and most widely heard of all theremin recordings. The film's director himself, Alfred Hitchcock, commission Mikos Rosza to create a 'new sound' to characterise the haunting paranoia of Gregory Peck's character. Hitchcock and the film's producer David Selznick hadn't heard of the theremin and "weren't quite sure whether you ate it or took it for headaches" but decided to give it a go.

This is a special short arrangement of the Spellbound Concerto which highlights the key theremin moment. You can hear two principal theremin themes - the 'love' theme and 'dementia' theme.

About Carolina Eyck

German based Carolina is the youngest theremin protégé in the world. She has been playing the theremin since the age of eight and is a student of Lydia Kavina. Carolina studies violin at the CPE Bach music school in Berlin. Her performances includes shows with the Servi music project with Jan Bilk and Thomas Nawka.
Website: www.carolina-eyck.de

Radio Drama: Moscow Subway, 1962

Now we head back in time to Moscow 1962. Robert and Clara Rockmore are on a Russian vacation for Robert to finally acquaint himself with his wife's roots. Clara hasn't heard from Lev Sergevich Termen for over 20 years and is touched at a surprise reunion.

Samuel Hoffman and Herbi Silvers "I'm so attracted to you"

About the recording

A strange kind of voodoo project with a desperately inappropriate use of the theremin. 'an interesting novelty instrument as a double' and best enjoyed with a soupy-twist! Thanks to Xela for this recording.

About Samuel Hoffman

The ultimate shwing-dinger who performed the original "Spellbound" recording, and numerous soundtracks for sci-fi movies and even a set of three albums for RCA records.
Read the transcription of the Samuel Hoffman play

James Coleman "This Castle keeps me"

from the album Zuihitsu. Released: Sedminetal Records 2001, PO Box 4144, Austin, Texas, 78765, USA.

A Pontisillistic and minimalist free improvised project inspired by Japanese spirituality. The ensemble includes bowed percussion, aluminium cello and soprano saxophone.

Barbara Buchholz' "Hidden Melody"

Barbara Buchholz' work focuses on the theremin and the MIDI Theremin, using a combination of MIDI signals and a sampler, the MIDI Theremin lets her trigger loops and samples by hand gestures in the air. In the age of digital media, Barbara's work explores electronics as an aspect of human communication, with the theremin and Midi Theremin acting as a bridge from the oldest to the very latest technology. Accompanying the sine-wave of the theremin are sound-fragments of daily life, displaced from their original contexts, which are used as musical material. Barbara chooses samples from her "sound diaries" of collected sound impressions. These "musical polaroids" are acoustical souvenirs of concrete, personal experiences, tickling her impulses to develop an authentic style and music.

As a composer and performer, Barbara has worked on numerous theatre based projects, recently producing "TAP IT DEEP" - a unique blend of MIDI tap dance and new jazz - as well as HUMAN INTERACTIVITY - a collaboration with the Russian computer painter Olga Kumeger, among others. Together they work in partnership with dancers and artists combining artistic and scientific knowledge by fostering the meeting of art and science in the field of technologies.

Website: www.barbarabuchholz.com

Eric Ross "Music 4MR Op 35"

About the recording

From the album Theremin Summit - Live at Berlin JazzFest
This features fellow thereminists Youssef Yancy and Lydia Kavina.

About Eric Ross

Eric Ross is a composer, avant-garde musician and thereminist from New York. He has performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival and Berlin Jazz Festival amongst many shows playing piano, guitars, synthesizers and theremins. Eric often collaborates with multiple thereminists to produce part composed, part improvised projects. With his wife Mary Ross, a video artist, they produced multimedia works around the world. His compositions include 'overture for 14 theremins' and he also gave the world premiere of Percy Grainger's 'Free Music No. 1" in New York in 1997.
The New York Times described his music as 'a unique blend of classical, avant-garde, serial and jazz."
He was a teacher at the 1st International Theremin Festival in Portland, ME in America in 1997 and he has played for Leon Theremin himself.
Web: www.geocities.com/theremin_eross

Lydia Kavina "In Whims of the Wind"

About the recording

Take from the album 'Music From The Ether' released on Mode records www.mode.com
PO Box 1026 New York, NY 10116, USA.

The brainchild of musicologist and theremin expert Olivia Mattis, this is the only commercially released album of original compositions for theremin and Olivia unearthed dusty scores of music especially written for American thereminist Lucie Bigelow Rosen, amongst others. The album includes Martinu's 'Fantasia' and Percy Grainger's 'Free Music' as well as contemporary compositions for theremin and tape by Jorge Antunes, Vladimir Komarov and Lydia Kavina. This track features Elizabeth Parcell as the soprano voice. The composition pairs the sinusoidal timbre of the theremin with the purity of Parcell's coloratura voice.

About Lydia Kavina

Composer and thereminist, Moscow based Lydia leads the field in modern theremin playing and is widely recognised as the most influential teacher, recording artist and player in our times. With her husband, George Pavlov, she has developed her own theremin brand the 'T Vox Tour'. She has learned the theremin since childhood as her great uncle and theremin teacher was none other than inventor Leon Theremin himself. Lydia's instruments and sounds favour purity of sound and cleanness of line in performing both Classical works and contemporary compositions. Her recording credits include performing in the Hamburg version of Tom Wait's 'Alice' and the soundtrack to the movie 'Ed Wood'. She has played in operas, scientific demonstrations, academic events and toured as a soloist and well as letting her hair down playing with surf rock band Messer Chups.

Website: Lydia Kavina - Theremin Virtuosa

GIG: Lydia Kavina is appearing as a special guest with Messer Fur Frau Muller on Saturday 22nd November 2003 at the ICA in London, tickets £9.
Website: www.ica.org.uk

Hotel Mountclair: Samuel Hoffman Radio drama

Hal Hope, a.k.a. Dr Samuel J. Hoffman, the renowned Hollywood thereminist, is doing one final show at the Hotel Mountclair.
read the full transcript of the play


Polyphonic Aetherphon Demo Lev Termen
The great inventor himself introduces and demonstrates a polyphonic theremin device.

Project Pimento "Sway"

From the album Project: Pimento "Magical Moods of the Theremin" Tru Blu Lu Records

Cocktail lounge music with a tiki and exotic twist from the high class saloons of San Francisco Bay, featuring the superb talents of Robby Virus on theremin and Miss Lola Bombay on honey kissed vocals. So take a sip of your vodka martini, slip off the kitten heels and enjoy!
website: www.projectpimento.com

Messer Chups "Lo Fi Woman"

From the album "Black Black Magic": Messer Chups featuring Lydia Kavina on thereminvox. From Solnze Records, 2002.

Combining surf rock, sci-fi, exotica and punk attitude, this Russian based beat combo bite back!
Website: www.messerchups.com

Thereminists around the world

America:

Intissar "Red 7"

Intissar is from Mesa, Arizona - I like to think her music captures the emptiness of the desert. She is the first blogging thereminist who recorded her trials and tribulations of learning the theremin online.
This piece was recorded especially for "Into the ether" and is written for Professor Theremin. Intissar says: "Listeners may enjoy ample theremining, and scrutinize the instrument's nuance and sound against nothing but free air".
Website: www.intissar.com

Xela - "Termenvoksa Lyubov" (Theremin love song)

Xela was brought up with an open mind to all types of music. Aged seven, he learned to play his first musical instrument, the electric sweaty armpit, and mastered it after only one year. His occupational dream was shattered in high school when he found out that there was no longer a need for stereo needle designers. He went on to pursue a career in music, his first love. Xela has also made cameo appearances on music videos as well as multimedia projects. In the year 2000, he found the theremin, and insured his hands for millions of dollars.
Website: www.alexanderbreton.com

Larold Will "Birdy Improv"

Larold is from Portland, Oregon (the first state to decriminalise marijuana!). Larold's theremin playing has been compared to Jimi Hendrix, Luciano Pavarotti, Iggy Pop and Mr. Bean. One viewer observed: "that guy god down with his theremin in an almost obscene manner, rolling about frenziedly on the floor with the device shrieking between his legs like a reluctantly - embodied banshee."
Birdy Improv plays on the screech of the hand against the antennae to create bird like and other worldly sounds - Hitchcock eat your heart out.

Japan:

Ayako Sato "Komoriuta"

Eri: "Grim Grinning Ghosts"

Eri works with a 'stick' player, a new synthesizer which is a cross between a guitar and keyboard, uniting the oldest and the newest electronic musical instruments.
Website: www.theremin.org

Takeuchi Masami "My secret decision"

Album: Time slips away: compositions for theremin. Released on Next records, Aichi, Japan, 2001

An exclusive solo theremin album with compositions by Aoki Tomoki. The piano and theremin duos manoeuvre between 1920's Berlin barrel organ sounding to Chopin esque etudes and classical/jazz influenced music which evokes the compositions of Richard Rodney Bennett and Percy Grainger.

The album features a duet with Russian thereminist Lydia Kavina, recorded in Lydia's room in Moscow. "My Secret Decision" has an almost Baroque,antiphonal quality by multi-tracking four theremin parts to create 3D special and textural effects.
Website: www.mandarinelectron.com

The Man From Uranus: "First Moon Theremin Recital" featuring Hypnotique and Bruce Woolley's Radio Science Orchestra.

The Man from Uranus creates theremin and synthesizer based library and sample music inspired by Jean Jacques Perrey and Pierre Schaeffer. His 'Electrical Music Show' and 'Perpetual World Tour' showcasing hysterical electro-cabaret with monstrous and amazing sounds. So jump onto the lunar base and join him and his special theremin guests Hypnotique and the Radio Science Orchestra as they take a trip to the moon.
Website: www.manfromuranus.com

At the Ether Disco

A fictitious gathering where all the great thereminists in the world, alive and deceased get together to get their pitch rods up and let their hair down. Hostess: Lydia Kavina. Ether disco guests (in order of appearance): Leon Theremin (Lev Sergeyvich), Clara Rockmore, Bob Moog, Lucie Bigelow Rosen, Samuel J. Hoffman, Takeuchi Masami & Pamelia Kurstin.

Warning: Any similarity between real or fictitious characters or events is entirely deliberate. Don't sue, even from beyond the grave. The cast and author of the ether disco have subsequently been kidnapped by the KGB and are doing long hard service digging rocks in Siberia.

Written, directed and produced by: The ether diva
Starring: the ether diva and mister Tony as the characters.

Featuring music: - "disco music" - Medea by Jan Bilk & Thomas Nawka featuring Carolina Eyck on theremin from CD Servi project and "Hebrew Melody" by Clara Rockmore from the "Art of the Theremin" CD.

Clara Rockmore "Requeibros"

About the recording

"Requeibros" by Gaspar Cassado is a live recording in her Manhattan apartment taken from the Bob Moog produced video "Clara Rockmore: The greatest theremin virtuoso" and features her long standing accompanist, her sister Nadia Reisenberg on piano.

About Clara Rockmore

Clara Rockmore is, quite simply, the greatest thereminist that ever lived. Bob Moog said "if it wasn't for Clara, the theremin would have ended up as an electronic oddity". She performed the theremin in Carnegie Hall and treated the instrument as seriously as her original virtuoso study, the violin, modifying and re-interpreting string technique to the new space controlled instrument. Her tutorial manual and her CD produced by Bob Moog when she was past pension age, 'The Art of the Theremin' epitomises the magnificence and versatility of the theremin, favouring classical compositions and Russian music of poignant intensity. Unbelievably, there is little more than one hour of music recorded by Clara Rockmore available in the world and many of her greatest moments were never confirmed to tape.