"This Room Is My Castle Of Quiet." I remember listening to this quaint tune as a young lad and immediately being taken with the lead instrument and its otherworldly sound. I would later go onto learn of the instrument being eponymous: named after Lev Sergeivich Termen, a Russian inventor. When asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, for a time I would answer a Thereminist. Back in high school, my music teacher gave me a puzzled look when I told her my choice of instrument was neither a tuba nor a trombone but a Theremin. Unfortunately, she had none around to offer me. Naturally, THEREMIN: AN ELECTRONIC ODYSSEY would appeal to me, as I consider this one of the most underrated musical instruments of all time.
Many folks are undoubtedly unaware that an instrument such as this even exists, or should I say existed. Whereas others might not regard it as a legitimate instrument, what with it being electronic and all, as if that somehow disqualifies it according to some made-up, arbitrary criterion. If pots and pans can be used to make music in the case of skiffle, surely an object such as this can as well -- a wooden cabinet, resembling a lectern, made up of metal rods and other technical parts, and requiring of its user a certain technique to master it.
As the refined Clara Rockmore had demonstrated, the Theremin is not a toy but a serious piece of equipment, that can be used not only experimentally or whimsically, but for performing melodious concertos and other pieces designed for attentive, introspective listening. At one time, a group of Thereminists even performed at Carnegie Hall. Although the Theremin is often associated with woo-woo and was mostly used in the '50s to score B-pictures having to do with flying saucers, Ms. Rockmore had used it in a more sophisticated manner, using it to play Bach and other Classical compositions.
The documentary is, like the avant-garde Theremin itself, for acquired tastes. Some do not care for its spacey, plaintive sounds and would likely not be at all interested in knowing how the instrument is operated (how one hand controls the volume; the other, the pitch). For other viewers, say those fond of vibrato and pitch bending, and who consider the instrument to be dulcet & dreamy and speaking to their souls (a la the sine wave), the film is a real treat.
Termen is shown here at 94, as a frail and somewhat incoherent mumbler, and that's where the English subtitles come in. What Termen has to say about his then mysterious disappearance, which occurred back in the 1920s, when he was abducted from his studio while living in NYC, is most intriguing.
THEREMIN: AN ELECTRONIC ODYSSEY also includes several cinematic clips of movie scenes where the Theremin can be heard for dramatic effect, usually as a sound accompanying moments of character disorientation or surrealism. The best of these has Jerry Lewis discovering the curious instrument in "The Delicate Delinquent" and amusingly breaking out into song. Yes, one can sing along with the Theremin, just as there were Theremin dancers back in the day.
Many folks are undoubtedly unaware that an instrument such as this even exists, or should I say existed. Whereas others might not regard it as a legitimate instrument, what with it being electronic and all, as if that somehow disqualifies it according to some made-up, arbitrary criterion. If pots and pans can be used to make music in the case of skiffle, surely an object such as this can as well -- a wooden cabinet, resembling a lectern, made up of metal rods and other technical parts, and requiring of its user a certain technique to master it.
As the refined Clara Rockmore had demonstrated, the Theremin is not a toy but a serious piece of equipment, that can be used not only experimentally or whimsically, but for performing melodious concertos and other pieces designed for attentive, introspective listening. At one time, a group of Thereminists even performed at Carnegie Hall. Although the Theremin is often associated with woo-woo and was mostly used in the '50s to score B-pictures having to do with flying saucers, Ms. Rockmore had used it in a more sophisticated manner, using it to play Bach and other Classical compositions.
The documentary is, like the avant-garde Theremin itself, for acquired tastes. Some do not care for its spacey, plaintive sounds and would likely not be at all interested in knowing how the instrument is operated (how one hand controls the volume; the other, the pitch). For other viewers, say those fond of vibrato and pitch bending, and who consider the instrument to be dulcet & dreamy and speaking to their souls (a la the sine wave), the film is a real treat.
Termen is shown here at 94, as a frail and somewhat incoherent mumbler, and that's where the English subtitles come in. What Termen has to say about his then mysterious disappearance, which occurred back in the 1920s, when he was abducted from his studio while living in NYC, is most intriguing.
THEREMIN: AN ELECTRONIC ODYSSEY also includes several cinematic clips of movie scenes where the Theremin can be heard for dramatic effect, usually as a sound accompanying moments of character disorientation or surrealism. The best of these has Jerry Lewis discovering the curious instrument in "The Delicate Delinquent" and amusingly breaking out into song. Yes, one can sing along with the Theremin, just as there were Theremin dancers back in the day.