|
copperleaves uploaded a new video
(13 hours ago)
I call this composition LEMMENKAINEN'S DREAM. Lemmenkainen was one of the heroes in the Finnish national epic known as the KALEVALA. The writer of ...
more
I call this composition LEMMENKAINEN'S DREAM. Lemmenkainen was one of the heroes in the Finnish national epic known as the KALEVALA. The writer of The Lord Of The Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien, based much of his vision of Middle Earth on ideas and images from the Kalevala which he had read as a teenager. He liked it so much he actually learned Finnish in order to read the book in its native language, and later went on to invent a language entirely of his own (the language of the Elves called "Quenya") which was based on Finnish.
The kantele (pronounced "kan - teh - leh") is the national instrument of Finland and belongs to the family of instruments known as "psalteries". The one you see in this video is a 38 string, steel strung, electric kantele. It's magnetic pickups (which are eight inches long) were custom made by Jason Lollar for Bart Hopkin of Experimental Musical Instruments. If you are curious about them, visit Bart's website, windworld.com.
The kantele is an extremely resonant instrument and larger "concert" models are provided with a damper consisting of a thick felt strip similar to what you might find on a piano, in order to mute the strings. I left the damper box open in the middle part of this video so you could see what it looks like. These electroacoustic kanteles bear little resemblance to the traditional 5 and 10 string folk instruments but they open up all sorts of doors for modern musicians. The high tension and steel strings on the instrument in this video allow me, if I wish, to play the kantele with a bar which I hold in my left hand. Players of steel guitars and of certain traditional instruments of India also play in this way. The effect of it is a very pure and strangely lonely "northern" sound which I found appropriate for the piece.
The theremin I used is a Moog Etherwave Pro.
less
|
|
| |
|
|
copperleaves uploaded a new video
(2 weeks ago)
Here are two performances of the Disney classic SOMEDAY MY PRINCE WILL COME performed on the same 1929 RCA theremin 53 years apart. The first versi...
more
Here are two performances of the Disney classic SOMEDAY MY PRINCE WILL COME performed on the same 1929 RCA theremin 53 years apart. The first version was from a broadcast of the Disney TV show, THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB in 1956, where we see the celebrated Hollywood thereminist, Dr. Samuel Hoffman, playing for a group of mouseketeers. The second version of the song is one I recorded this afternoon (Nov. 24, 2009) on the theremin that once belonged to the late Dr. Hoffman. It is fortunate that extremely good care has been taken of this instrument throughout its life and it functions as well today as it did when it was made 80 years ago.
less
|
|
| |
|
|
copperleaves uploaded a new video
(3 weeks ago)
The words to this song were inspired by the 13th century Persian Sufi poet and "dervish", Rumi, who wrote:
Love has taken away my practice...
more
The words to this song were inspired by the 13th century Persian Sufi poet and "dervish", Rumi, who wrote:
Love has taken away my practices
And filled me with poetry.
I tried to keep quietly repeating
"No strength but yours." but I couldn't.
I had to clap and sing!
I used to be respectable and chaste and stable...
I am a scrap of wood thrown in your fire
And quickly reduced to smoke.....
When Rumi was about 37 years old, he met a man by the name of "Shams" and his life was turned upside down. Although we don't know the exact nature of their relationship, the poems that streamed from the pen of Rumi as a result of their meeting changed the course of Persian literature and gave the world one of the great literary treasures of all time. Today, in the 21st century, Rumi remains one of the best selling poets in America.
The harp I used on this song is the Dilling model single action Celtic harp built by harp maker Arsalaan Fay. I acquired this instrument in the early 1980's from the late "Empress of the Harp" Mildred Dilling herself. She was a fascinating and generous woman and was the teacher of the famous Harpo Marx. You can see a video of her (from 1940) right here on YT at the following URL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNFtRU...
The surbahar in this video was made for me many years ago by one of the finest luthiers in India, Kanai Lal.
The song is from a CD I made over the summer called DANCING ALONE.
peterpringle.com
less
|
|
| |
|
|
copperleaves uploaded a new video
(1 month ago)
This is one of my favorite songs from the works of French composer Henri Duparc, originally written to a poem by Charles Baudelaire. I have taken c...
more
This is one of my favorite songs from the works of French composer Henri Duparc, originally written to a poem by Charles Baudelaire. I have taken certain liberties with the arrangement in order to make up for the absence of the words which are extraordinarily powerful.
Duparc lived an unhappy, tormented life and did not write many compositions. Along with composer Camille Saint-Saens, he founded the National Society Of Modern Music in his native France.
I should mention that I probably would not have been able to play this on my Moog Etherwave Pro theremin if it's volume circuit linearity had not been greatly improved by the addition of the EPVM1345, a tiny module invented by French engineer Thierry Frenkel.
less
|
|
| |
|
|
copperleaves uploaded a new video
(2 months ago)
This is a transcription for theremin of Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff's beautiful song, Opus 21 #7, "Zdes Xorosho" (How Fair This ...
more
This is a transcription for theremin of Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff's beautiful song, Opus 21 #7, "Zdes Xorosho" (How Fair This Spot).
According to the New York Times, Rachmaninoff attended a demonstration of the theremin in 1930, given by its inventor, Leon Theremin (a fellow Russian), at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Apparently there was a woman in the audience who leapt to her feet after the first number applauding and shouting "Bravo! Bravo!" Rachmaninoff who, according to the article, was sitting behind her, loudly exclaimed, "Sit down Madame! You Exaggerate!"
At the time, the instrument was unknown and there were no musicians, other than its inventor, who were competent to play it.
Although Rachmaninoff never wrote anything for the theremin, one of his compositions, VOCALISE, has become one of the standard transcription compositions for the instrument. In regard to this song, HOW FAIR THIS SPOT, written for piano and voice in 1901, I found the following information on the internet:
"Rachmaninoff and his wife were on their honeymoon when he composed the work, which, not surprisingly, he also dedicated to her. Moreover, he had recently recovered from a depression caused by the disastrous 1897 premiere of his Symphony No. 1, which undermined his confidence and ability to compose until the appearance in 1901 of his ever-popular Piano Concerto No. 2. This was obviously a blissful time in his life, then, true to his nature, Rachmaninoff was moved to write music here about romance and passion, leaving out the sunshine and merriment he must also have felt. The song features one of the composer's most soaring, beautiful vocal melodies that would not have been out of place in a slow movement of one of his concertos or symphonies. The accompaniment is appropriately subdued and just as romantic as the vocal line. The text, by G. Galina, describes a pastoral scene where young lovers have come to be alone with nature and themselves. This lovely song typically has a duration of just over two minutes."
less
|
|
This may change.
But what I wanted to say is that you are a friggin genius! The Beowulf-adaptation is just briliant. I love the hurdy-gurdy and you play it so highly skilled. It is amazing.
Thank you for this piece of music which you can say clearly comes from the depths of your soul.
Take care!
You know how to make persons happy in those dark Winter days!
SURELY you must play theremin already for a long time I think ;-)
I'd like to learn the theremin too ... But I guess I still have a long way to go!
Love,
Marielle :D
Émouvant
Merci encore pour tant de beauté.
the first time I knew of it was because a character (babboon) in a cute (but vulgar) cartoon series "Cow and Chicken", played it to gain musical fame. thought it was just invented by the cartoon writers like all of their surreal scripts..hehe
Anyways it's amazing how you can create those soundwaves by just manipulating air..hehe
Keep posting please!! :)