ALEXANDER NEVSKY / PROKOFIEV / THEREMIN

YouTube via copperleaves | February 04, 2011 |

"Alexander Nevsky is one of the great heros of Russian history. He is reputed ...
copperleaves | February 04, 2011 | 1 likes, 0 dislikes

Alexander Nevsky is one of the great heros of Russian history. He is reputed to have driven an army of Livonian Knights (German "warrior monks") from Russia in the year 1241. The decisive battle was on the ice of the frozen lake Peipus (in Russian "Chudsko-Pskovskoe ozero") in the spring of 1242.

The Russian film director, Sergei Eisenstein, made a movie of this epic battle in 1938 and hired composer Sergei Prokofiev to write the music for it. ALEXANDER NEVSKY is considered by many experts to be one of the great movies of all time, and the piece of music in this video (transcribed for theremin) is from that film.

Following the Battle On The Ice, there are hundreds of dead soldiers lying in the snow and a young maiden walks out onto the frozen lake looking for her lover, and sings, "I shall go across the snow-clad field, I shall fly above the field of death, I shall search for valiant warriors there....."

The composer Prokofiev had spent some time in Hollywood in the 1930's, and had made a study of the new science of soundtracking for film. Director Eisenstein said of Prokofiev, "He is a man of our time and a man of the screen. He understands how the screen can reveal not only the outer appearance of things but their inner nature as well. He is able to dress objects in sound and instrumentation, bringing them to life with shifts in tone and timbre, adding an emotional dimension to images through his orchestration".

Prokofiev later took his score for ALEXANDER NEVSKY and made a cantata out of it for mezzo-soprano, chorus and orchestra. The interesting thing about the composition is that the music, as powerful as it is, does not overshadow the film. It complements it perfectly while remaining one of the composer's most enduring works.

The theremin in this video is the 1929 RCA that was once the property of the late Hollywood thereminist, Dr. Samuel Hoffman."

copperleaves - How I Set Up My Theremin

YouTube Uploaded by copperleaves on Oct 1, 2011

"This is a step-by-step description of how I set up my theremin for video recording. When I started making this video I expected it might be 7 or 8 minutes long including the performance of the Rodgers & Hammerstein song, YOUNGER THAN SPRINGTIME, which comes at the end of the talk. It turned out to be almost 15 minutes long, and I still had a bunch of things I wanted to cover!

I recorded the spoken portion of the demonstration in the above video using the videocam built-in microphone, but when I began to play the theremin I recorded to the ROLAND, mixed the song, burned a CD, and replaced the soundtrack on that portion of the video with an mp3 of the performance (using iMovie and iTunes on my Mac). With iMovie, you can import audio (in mp3 format) from your iTunes library, sync it with your video, and then mute the live audio from the original clip. It's quite simple and I can do it in just a couple of minutes.

I apologize for being so long winded and I hope that people who are interested in the theremin will find something of value here. If you have any questions post them to the "comments" section or send me a message.

Thanks for watching. Enjoy."

Theremin Kaddish For Clara

YouTube via copperleaves
"This is a short kaddish for Clara Rockmore. I wrote it on March 9, 2009, which would have been Clara's 98th birthday. What she achieved during her lifetime continues to be a tremendous inspiration to many people who find they have an affinity with the theremin, the instrument to which she dedicated her life and career. It is because of Clara's efforts, and those of her dear friend the late Robert Moog, that the theremin exists today and is more popular than it has ever been.

I wrote this as a vocal improvisation which I played and sang at the keyboard. I then took the vocal out and replaced it with the theremin which you hear on this video.

The instrument I am playing is the 1929 RCA theremin that once belonged to thereminist Dr. Samuel Hoffman. If you would like to hear this piece without the YouTube audio distortion, you can find it at:

peterpringle.com/thereminmp3s.html"

Theremin Gymnopedie


"The GYMNOPEDIE #1 by French composer Erik Satie (1866 - 1925) transcribed for theremin and piano."

You can find more performances here: http://www.youtube.com/user/copperleaves

RCA Theremin & Talking Machine

YouTube Published on May 22, 2012 by copperleaves

"The theremin in this video is the instrument that once belonged to Julius Goldberg, the partner and personal assistant of Russian inventor Leon Theremin. This is a 1929 RCA theremin that was customized by Goldberg in the early 1930's and provided with 'lightning bolt' volume and pitch antennas. In this video, I am using an ELECTRO-HARMONIX 'Talking Machine' on a fixed, open 'AH' sound, which lends to the tone a remarkable likeness to a human tenor.

The theremin has often been compared to an 'electric soprano' but used with the Talking Machine, it can also be an ELECTRIC TENOR or an ELECTRIC BARITONE!

The composition is the famous tenor aria, NESSUN DORMA, from the opera TURANDOT by Italian composer Giacomo Puccini."

Nature Boy / Voice & Theremin

YouTube Uploaded by copperleaves on Apr 29, 2011

"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_Boy"

THEREMIN - Aria From Handel's RODELINDA

YouTube Uploaded by copperleaves on Sep 14, 2011

"This is the aria "Ritorna, oh caro e dolce mio tesoro" from George Frideric Handel's 1725 opera, RODELINDA, played on a Moog Etherwave Pro theremin. After hearing the liberties I took with the music, poor old Handel is probably revolving in his grave! This is actually the second version of it that I did. The first version was more faithful to the original score but I was afraid it might be a little boring so I did it again and added a couple of over-the-top cadenzas.

My Etherwave Pro theremin has had its volume circuit modified with the addition of an EPVM1345 module, an improvement designed by French engineer and theremin wizard, Thierry Frenkel. The speaker is a "CLARATONE" built specifically for use with theremins by Reid Welch, and it is miked with an AKG C 535 EB microphone.

The harpsichord sound is a Roland Fantom XR module. I have played many harpsichords and they are filled with all sorts of mechanical noises which, in my opinion, add to their flavor and unique tone qualities. The Fantom XR actually reproduces these extraneous sounds which is one of the reasons why I like it."

Tuvan Throat Singing & Theremin

YouTube via copperleaves

"Here is a short improv for Tuvan/Mongolian throat singing (a style known as "khoomei") and MIDI theremin. The instrument you see me holding in the video is called a "morin xuur" or "horse fiddle". It is normally played with a bow but in this composition I pluck the strings and also drum my fingers on it to play rhythmic patterns. I'm afraid I'm not a particularly good throat singer, but I do enjoy doing it a lot and I greatly admire the Tuvan and Mongolian musicians who are the real masters of it.

The MIDI theremin you see in this video is the Moog MIDI Ethervox."

Be sure to see Huun-Huur-Tu - Live

RCA Theremin & Talking Machine VOCALISE

YouTube Published on Jun 3, 2012 by copperleaves

"The VOCALISE of Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff has become one of the standards of theremin performance because it was written for voice without words, to be sung on an open "AH". Usually we hear it performed in the soprano register but here it is in the tenor range using the 1929 RCA theremin of Leon Theremin's assistant, Julius Goldberg, in conjunction with an ELECTRO-HARMONIX "Talking Machine" set to....yes, you got it....an open "AH".

In the second half of this video I put the instrument on a rotating table so you can see all sides of it including its unusual volume antenna which is kind of hard to see under normal performing circumstances.

You'll notice that this theremin has fancy locks on its cabinet doors. Sometime in the 1940's the late Mr. Goldberg installed these to keep his kids from opening the doors and electrocuting themselves! There are potentially lethal voltages inside."

Follow-up to this post.

Haken Continuum Meets Erik Satie

YouTube Uploaded by copperleaves on Mar 17, 2011
follow-up to this post
"One of the great things about the Haken Continuum fingerboard is that you can play it with one hand and still take advantage of all its expressive capabilities while your other hand plays another instrument - in this case I am playing a Korg Triton Extreme keyboard with my left hand. This composition - GNOSSIENNE #3 - was written by the French impressionist composer, Erik Satie, and is one of a series of pieces written for piano in 1890. It is a popular piece among players of the "ondes martenot" but unlike the Continuum, the ondes must be played with two hands so the ondiste is unable to accompany himself.

I used one of the Continuum's built-in sounds for this performance because I felt it had a very pure and enchanting timbre that seemed to go well with the music.

The word "Gnossienne" is a reference to the capital of ancient Crete (also Knossos) which was excavated by European archaeologists in the 1870's. Satie was inspired by the extraordinary frescoes and artwork that was unearthed at that time."

As When The Dove / Handel / Theremin

YouTube via copperleaves — May 03, 2010 — "This piece is called AS WHEN THE DOVE LAMENTS HER LOVE and it is from the oratorio ACIS AND GALATEA (1720) by George Frideric Handel. I first recorded this piece, or maybe I should say my own arrangement of it transcribed for theremin, several years ago before YouTube existed. It is wonderful fun to play so I decided to do a whole new version of it on HD video and post it.

There is a lot of very fast fingering and some extended baroque trills in this piece which are hard to see because they tend to become a blur on a video screen. I tried to get camera angles that would show as much as possible of the technique involved in case there are some theremin enthusiasts out there who are interested in this kind of music.

The theremin I am playing is a Moog Etherwave Pro which has been modified with an EPVM1345 module created by French engineer, Thierry Frenkel. I have to say that I got as much of a kick out of playing the harpsichord on this piece as I did out of playing the theremin!"

BEATLES Theremin

YouTube via copperleaves | November 27, 2010 | 3 likes, 0 dislikes

"This song is called THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD and it was one of the last songs the Beatles did together (1970) before the group broke up. For me, this video was an experiment in trying to play precision theremin and sing at the same time. I found that the best I could do was play "fills" (short instrumental phrases between the melody lines), so I only sang one verse.

The song itself has a very interesting history and has its own article on Wikipedia, at the following URL:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long...

The theremin I am playing is a Moog Ethervox, and I am singing into a Sennheiser headset microphone."

Johnny Carson Plays THEREMIN

YouTube Uploaded by copperleaves on Aug 12, 2011

"This is an appearance that thereminist Dr. Samuel Hoffman made on the JOHNNY CARSON SHOW in 1956. The 1929 RCA theremin you see in this clip is currently in my collection."

Be sure to see the Synths in TV and Film post.

Dvorak

YouTube via copperleaves | December 23, 2010

Mozart Theremin Concerto

YouTube via copperleaves | November 12, 2010

"This is the main theme from the "andante" movement of Mozart's piano concerto #21 in C major (K. 467). The theme was used in the soundtrack of the 1967 Swedish film, ELVIRA MADIGAN, and since then it has been called "The Elvira Madigan Concerto".

This is a theremin transcription of the theme played on the Moog Ethervox."

Vulcan Harp & Theremin (1929 RCA Theremin)

YouTube via copperleaves | January 18, 2011 |

"This is called THE KATRIC ARK and it is one of a series of 12 compositions for Vulcan harp and theremin. Since the Vulcan harp was introduced by artist and visionary Wah Ming Chang more than 40 years ago, it has evolved considerably, along with the technology involved with its manufacture. It is acoustic, electroacoustic and electronic (it is the electronic component that permits such things as the playing of complex harmonies, glide pitch shifts, etc.).

As a sculptor, Chang molded the instrument to fit the human body, and it is great to hold because it is so wonderfully ergonomic. This particular harp has 26 strings (copper, brass and silver) and is played with finger picks. There are no steel strings and the instrument does not use magnetic pickups like electric guitars. It also does not need to be plugged into anything so there are no annoying cables to get in the way. It transmits directly to its amplifier and speakers by means of an antenna integrated into the pin column (the extended curved vertical arm that holds the tuning pins). The two speakers you see in the video are JBL JRX-125 monitors.

As a concept, the characteristics of "Vulcan music" are determined by the remarkable capabilities of the Vulcan harp which include many of the possibilities of the classical instruments of India. The sound of the Vulcan harp has been described as a combination of harp, lute, violin and sitar. If you add to this everything that is possible with the use of the shift disc and the harmonic valves (the seven button controls - one for each note of the diatonic scale - riding above the brass plate) you have an extraordinary number of combinations that can be explored. The harmonic valves are all level-sensitive (each responds to three degrees of left hand finger pressure applied to them: touch, half, and full) and this determines the harmony applied to the vibrating strings. Octave displacement is played by multiple valve configurations depending on the register in which the harpist wants to play.

There is also a "tapper control" incorporated into the Vulcan harp for generating complex polyrhythms but it is not used in this particular composition. The "tapper" is the knob that sits just behind the lowest bass strings on the upper edge of the instrument facing the harpist. It can be silently programmed just before a piece is played by drumming the fingers of the left hand on the knob in the exact rhythm combination you want to hear applied to your sound once you begin to play. The instrument will loop the rhythm continuously throughout the piece (or until you squelch it).

The theremin in this video is the 1929 RCA that once belonged to Hollywood thereminist Dr. Samuel Hoffman. It was used by Dr. Hoffman on the soundtracks of many classic science fiction films of the 1950's, so I thought it would be appropriate to use it here. If you are curious about this 1929 theremin, I am featured in the 20TH CENTURY FOX 2-disc DVD "special edition" of the re-issue of the original 1951 science fiction masterpiece, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. There are already several videos on YouTube of me playing this instrument (and some from the 1950's of Dr. Hoffman as well) so after the solo theremin section at the beginning of the composition, I concentrated entirely on showing the Vulcan harp. There are very few Vulcan harps in the world and even fewer musicians who can actually play them, so I thought people might might like to see it.

PLEASE NOTE: the recording of this composition was done directly to a Roland VS-2400CD. There were no FX added to the instruments other than the usual EQ and a small amount of reverb. No peripherals, no MIDI modules, overdubs or computers were used at any time in the recording process."

Dagda's Magic Harp

Published on Feb 10, 2013 copperleaves·57 videos

"This is one of many stories about the mythological king of ancient Ireland, know as 'Dagda' (pronounced "dada"). Dagda is said to have possessed, among other wonderful things, a magical harp which he could use to produce supernatural phenomena. This story was first written down by Christian monks around the 12th century AD, but at that time it was already ancient and had been handed down verbally for more than a thousand years.

According to legend, there were two tribes living in Ireland at the time of King Dagda: the Fomorians who were small and dark haired people, and the Celtic "Tuatha De Danaan" who were tall, light skinned and blond and whose leader was King Dagda. It seems they were constantly at war and this particular tale has to do with the time the Fomorians stole Dagda's magic harp (something which turned out to be a very bad idea).

The instrument I am using to accompany myself in this song is a two part affair of my own devising which I call the 'tibicen' (the Latin word for "piper"). It is entirely electronic, and consists of a small keyboard which sits in my lap, and a pedalboard (similar to a church organ) on the floor in floor in front of me. Nothing was added to this performance and there are no overdubs or additions of any kind. This is exactly the way it was performed.

The pedalboard provides the drone, while the keyboard plays melody. The instrument has a huge range, can play in any key, and I have tried to show some of what it can do in this video.

In ancient time, when sagas of this sort were performed, they sometimes went on for hours. I had to cut this down to its bare essentials in order to bring it in under eight minutes. The unedited story contains a lot of interesting details but I didn't want to bore everyone by going on too long!"

Surbahar And MIDI Theremin

YouTube via copperleaves
"This is a short improvisation for surbahar and Moog MIDI Ethervox theremin. This surbahar was made for me many years ago by the Indian luthier Kanai Lal. The theremin, which is used here as a kind of "movable drone" is being played purely by the proximity of the neck of the surbahar to the vertical (pitch) antenna. Theremin volume is controlled by a small knob on the floor next to me."

In A Monastery Garden - THEREMIN

YouTube via copperleaves
"One of the very first theremin recordings ever made was thereminist Lennington Shewell's transcription of British composer Albert Ketelbey's hugely popular 1915 composition, IN A MONASTERY GARDEN. It was released in 1930 by RCA at virtually the same time as they began to distribute the first RCA theremins.

This is a wonderful piece of magnificently schmaltzy, unabashedly sentimental, early 20th century "light" program music and it launched Ketelbey into the forefront of the popular composers of his day and made him one of Britain's first music millionaires. This piece of music was wildly popular and would have been very familiar to our great grandparents. We need to remember that it was written after the start of World War I, and Europeans were reeling from the tragedy and brutality of the destruction of the world they had known.

The score calls for birdsong, chapel bells, an organ, and for a chorus of monks to be heard singing "Kyrie Eleison" (a phrase from the Greek meaning, "Lord, have mercy") in a nearby cloister. The monks' voices were to be (according to the original score) the "gentlemen of the orchestra" who were required not only to play their instruments but to sing as well!

Here's what Ketelbey himself wrote about this composition: "The first theme represents a poet's reverie in the quietude of the monastery garden amidst beautiful surroundings - the calm serene atmosphere - the leafy trees and the singing birds. The second theme in the minor expresses the more personal note of sadness, of appeal and contrition. Presently, the monks are heard chanting "Kyrie Eleison" with the organ playing and the chapel bell ringing. The first theme is now heard in a quieter manner as if it had become more ethereal and distant; the singing of the monks is again heard - it becomes louder and more insistent, bringing the piece to a conclusion in a glow of exultation".

The theremin in this video is a Moog Ethervox and I used it not only for the melody but also for the birdsong. The voices of the monks singing "Kyrie Eleison" are me singing into a Digitech VOCALIST."

GABRIEL'S OBOE - HOFFMAN'S THEREMIN - 1929

YouTube via copperleaves — April 08, 2010 — "This is the GABRIEL'S OBOE theme from Italian composer Ennio Morricone's score for the film, THE MISSION. Through the miracle of "green screen" I have been able to place myself inside the theremin. Yes, those giant glass tanks behind me are actually the delicate little vacuum tubes that give the RCA theremin its distinctive voice.

This instrument was once the property of Doctor Samuel Hoffman, who used it on the soundtracks of such classic films as THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, SPELLBOUND, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS and many other suspense and SciFi movies of the late 1940's and 1950's. At that time, he modified the instrument for use in the recording studio by putting special audio output jacks on it so that external speakers could be plugged into the RCA theremin amplifier. For this recording, I used a CLARATONE speaker that was specially built by Florida vintage theremin expert Reid Welch (you can see it mounted on a pole behind me and to my left).

This speaker was designed to emulate the sound of the vintage Jensen speaker used by the late, great theremin virtuosa, Clara Rockmore. Because Reid had been a personal friend of Clara Rockmore, he had the opportunity to study her instrument and her speaker set up. His CLARATONE has a 10 inch cone and a particularly warm, sweet and definitely human voice."

Julius Goldberg's RCA Theremin

YouTube via copperleaves — June 13, 2010 — "This is the unique 1929 RCA theremin that was once the property of Leon Theremin's assistant, Julius Goldberg. One of the things that makes this instrument so unusual, are the "lightning bolt" antennas that were created for it in the 1930's. For the purpose of this video, I have removed the cabinet doors in order to be able to show the inside of the instrument.

One of the problems that RCA theremins can develop over the years (this instrument is more than 80 years old) has to do with the degeneration of the "trimming condensers". These are the three little white cards that hang from the chassis. You will notice that each card has a trimming screw on it which allows the user to adjust the range of the instrument as well as the volume response. Turning the screw to the left or the right fine tunes capacitance by pushing two plates together on the inside of the card. Over the years, these plates naturally degenerate and lose their capacitance (causing the pitch range of the sound to fall lower and lower over the decades) so extra capacitance has to be added in order to maintain the integrity of the instrument. This can be done easily by adding a capacitor to the circuit. I have done this by connecting small alligator clips to the poles of the circuits and then inserting capacitors that will return the instrument to the original RCA specifications. By leaving the clips exposed (you can see them in the video) I can access them easily and adjust capacitance without having to disassemble the theremin.

The elaborate speaker stand that you see behind me, is an exact replica of the "sprite" speakers (there were originally three of them) that were created for the "Electrio" in 1931 by Vincente Minnelli when he was working as a set designer at Radio City Music Hall. Minnelli later went on to become one of Hollywood's most celebrated film directors of the 1940's and 50's. Unfortunately, the original stands disappeared long ago. They are very top heavy and they probably just fell apart.

It was felt at the time that the theremin, theremincello, and theremin keyboard (which formed the "Electrio") was not very interesting to look at from a distance, so these spectacular Art Deco speaker stands were created to look impressive from a distance. They were almost eight feet tall (this reproduction is about 7' 8" tall) and were very fragile. The stand you see in this video is equipped with a CLARATONE speaker specially designed for use with a theremin.

The piece I am playing is CHE FARO SENZA EURIDICE from C. W. Gluck's opera, ORFEO ED EURIDICE.

If you would like to know more about Julius Goldberg, and see some photos of the original sprite speakers, please visit my website:

http://www.peterpringle.com"

Click here for all posts featuring Peter Pringle featured here on MATRIXSYNTH. Don't miss this impressive cover of Cohen's Hallelujah.