Dok (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} cyberinsekt) wrote,@ 2007-03-01 11:26:00 |
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Clara Rockmore - Tchaikovsky: Valse Sentimentale
As any fule kno, the theremin is a novelty instrument, suitable only for beach parties, cheesy horror effects and art school wastrels. It is inherently tacky and is used in music only for shock value and gimmickry.
That's because people have forgotten the legacy of Clara Rockmore.
Rockmore (1911-1998) was trained as a violist. Illness prevented her from continuing her studies with the instrument. Fortunately, she was in contact with Léon Theremin, and he built a custom instrument for her. Over the intervening years, nobody has come close to matching the control that she had over the theremin. The instrument shares one very notable property with the violin: physically it gives no indication as to the pitch of the note being played. The performer needs to be totally confident of what they are hearing, and Rockmore was fortunate to have perfect pitch. Her playing style clearly owes a lot to her early years on the violin. It's filled with tremolo, and tremendously expressive.
Valse Sentimentale highlights a side of the theremin most people don't get to hear: its lower register. The sound Rockmore produces is part strings, part voice, and part pure theremin. The final, dramatic swooping glissando could not be produced on any other instrument, and fits the tragic romanticism of Tchaikovsky perfectly. This is my pick from her 1987 album, The Art of the Theremin. I just wish the recording quality was on a par with the playing.
As any fule kno, the theremin is a novelty instrument, suitable only for beach parties, cheesy horror effects and art school wastrels. It is inherently tacky and is used in music only for shock value and gimmickry.
That's because people have forgotten the legacy of Clara Rockmore.
Rockmore (1911-1998) was trained as a violist. Illness prevented her from continuing her studies with the instrument. Fortunately, she was in contact with Léon Theremin, and he built a custom instrument for her. Over the intervening years, nobody has come close to matching the control that she had over the theremin. The instrument shares one very notable property with the violin: physically it gives no indication as to the pitch of the note being played. The performer needs to be totally confident of what they are hearing, and Rockmore was fortunate to have perfect pitch. Her playing style clearly owes a lot to her early years on the violin. It's filled with tremolo, and tremendously expressive.
Valse Sentimentale highlights a side of the theremin most people don't get to hear: its lower register. The sound Rockmore produces is part strings, part voice, and part pure theremin. The final, dramatic swooping glissando could not be produced on any other instrument, and fits the tragic romanticism of Tchaikovsky perfectly. This is my pick from her 1987 album, The Art of the Theremin. I just wish the recording quality was on a par with the playing.
