The first electronic instrument was ,of course, the Theremin, as created by Russian inventor,and Stalin Prize winner, Léon Theremin in 1920.Originally he called it by the less egocentric titleage of "The ætherphone", which I kinda like? A musical instrument for the modern era, as it involves no physical contact,and is therefore free of viral transmission drawbacks.It was also the result of Soviet sponsored research into proximity detectors....so electronic music is another thing we have to thank Communism for it seems?
Theremin also invented the drum machine, before he inadvisedly returned to the USSR in 1938.....some say he was kidnapped by the NKVD, which would explain a lot.
Anyhow, he had a glad eye for the ladies, and despite being turned down for marriage several times by the Lithuanian object of his desires, Clara Reisenberg became his Theremin virtuoso prodigy,and proceeded to tour america from coast to coast hulking her clumsy theremin around with her during the 1930's. She married into money,hence the Rockmore name, and continued pumping out a bunch of wobbly creepy classics to the public for fifty years or so,finally getting into a recording studio by 1977....et voila....this album was released.'Haunting' is the adjective frequently used when the Theremin is involved,and by jiminy it certainly is.Interpreting classical works by Rachmaninov, Stravinsky, and Tchaicovsky....in fact anyone russian it seems, in that spooky portamento style that is the trademark of the Etherphone.Clara Rockmore, although not a musical innovator herself as such, was indeed, the First Lady of Electronic music.
Apart from inventing the Drum Machine, Theremin's other talents included a fancy line in espionage and spying equipment,my favourite being 'The Thing',which was a listening device hidden in a replica of the Great Seal of the United States carved in wood. In 1945, Soviet school children presented the concealed bug to the U.S. Ambassador as a "gesture of friendship" to the USSR's World War II ally. It hung in the ambassador’s residential office in Moscow and intercepted confidential conversations there during the first seven years of the Cold War, until it was accidentally discovered in 1952.
Nice one Leon.
Tracklist:
1.Vocalise 3:46
2.Song Of Grusia 4:16
3.The Swan 2:56
4.Pantomime 3:45
5.Hebrew Melody 5:23
6.Romance 4:47
7.Berceuse 3:08
8.Habanera 2:42
9.Berceuse 4:14
10.Valse Sentimentale 2:06
11.Sérénade Mélancolique 7:39
12.Chant Du Ménestrel 3:58
