According to Heller, Baxter compiled music--some from studio outtakes of recording sessions--to create his "TV special." The compilation includes, among other elements, a recording of Richard Rodgers' "Lover," "Ruby" (Heller informs that this recording features Beverly Ford's voice and not a
theremin), "Quiet Village," "Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing," and "Chopsticks."
"My whole life is sound," she avows, proving this by playing not only a series of conventional percussion instruments--the humble snare drum is her avowed favorite--but railings, tubes, buildings, detritus from a pub table and even a walkie-talkie, which sounds, in her hands, uncannily like a
Theremin.
The haunting theme tune is rerecorded for every episode using an unusual instrument called a
theremin, invented in Russia in 1919 by physicist Leon
Theremin.
Apart from drums, trombone and guitar you are also likely to witness bagpipes and the little-heard
theremin alongside Dunmall's sax and clarinet.
Cartoon sounds and Lawrence Welk licks soften the jungle aggression of "Think What You're Doing," while
theremin wails give "Light from a Different Sun" an otherworldly glow.
My thanks to Stefan Czapsky, whose cinematography has summoned up these visions; to the production designer, Tom Duffield, who gave form to the delirium; and to Howard Shore for his music, appropriately scored for the sci-fi swoops of a
theremin, plus savage, pulsating bongos.
The Untouchable Instrument is the title of the evening's entertainment, which features the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra alongside
theremin soloist ThE[sup.1]rwald Jorgensen -- the
theremin, of course, being the untouchable instrument.
There's a spooky
Theremin, an electric screwdriver, and, on the song My Stupid Face, the Bullring shopping centre!
English music is featured in the four Delius Violin Sonatas played by Suzanne Stenzeleit with Gustav Fenyo, recorded in 1964, and Mark Fitzgerald has restored another film score by Shostakovitch, this time of the 1934 The Gilrfriends, which uses there mysterious sound of the
Theremin. Salute to Spain and Rule Britannia, music for stage productions, and an unfinished symphonic movement complete this record of unknown but worthy Shostakovitch played by the Polish National Radio Orchestra.
There's an accompanying book written by Brend (published by Backbeat Books, pounds 16.95) exploring some of the most weird and wonderful crannies of pop history, essaying such gloriously oddball instruments as the
theremin and the stylophone.
Think Robyn Hitchcock backed by a
theremin and a hurdy-gurdy and you'll get the idea.
3 LON CHANGELY A former noisician and
theremin devotee known mainly for his vast, compressed internal landscapes in the late '80s and early '90s, Changely has reemerged in the field of sculpture.