You all know the sound. That crazy, trilling electronic whistle that dips into a whoop. Or it starts in a trough and shoots up into the super stratosphere. It’s the sound of UFOs and mad science. It’s the sound of the theremin.
The electronic instrument, invented by Léon Theremin in 1928, is played without physical contact. The proximity of the hands to two antennae determines volume and pitch.
We’ll experience the instrument’s distinctive, extraterrestrial timbre, as we celebrate the birthday anniversary of Theremin today, by listening to performances by Clara Rockmore and to Bernard Herrmann’s suite from his influential film score for “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (which basically defined the sound of ‘50s science fiction).
The instrument will be featured as part of a program that will also include birthday celebrations for eclectic Frenchman Jacques Ibert and Afro-English composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.
Continuing with our ongoing salute to Brazil, to tie in with the Olympic Games in Rio, we’ll also hear Herrmann’s recording of Darius Milhaud’s “Saudades do Brasil.” The twelve dances that make up the suite are named for neighborhoods in Rio de Janeiro, where Milhaud lived for nearly two years as attaché to the French ambassador Paul Claudel.
I hope you’ll join me today, from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, when we’ll be mad for science and samba on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.
More about Theremin and Rockmore here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/network-awesome/from-russia-with-love-the_1_b_1384444.html