Peter Theremin Plays SPELLBOUND
Peter Pringle
Peter Theremin in concert playing, among other things, the theme from SPELLBOUND. I only listened to the first part of this video because the intonation was so bad I couldn't stand it anymore!
As long as the theremin is represented on the international stage by playing of this caliber, the instrument will never be taken seriously. I think it's laudable to be supportive, and kind to applaud everyone's efforts with love and goodwill, but at some point somebody's got to stand up and point out that the emperor is NAKED.
mpic...@earthlink.net
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Martin E. G. Anhalt
Martin E. G. Anhalt
Isn't this particular arrangement by Lydia Kavina? (Though I have also seen it attributed to Lucie Rosen)
Amethyste
Joey Aguilera
Amethyste
Amethyste
Charlie Draper
David Curtis
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theremin137
To say nothing of the fact that the orchestra sounds like the reincarnation of the Portsmouth Sinfonia.
Peter Pringle
Amey wrote: "Peter T.....You have fingers? Why don't you use them to reach the notes rather than moving your whole arm? It would probably lead to better note accuracy and a less "stiff" performance....."
Amey! I'm surprised at you! Criticizing a MASTER thereminist!
Oh.....you don't think Peter Theremin is a master thereminist? Well I can prove it to you. Here he is giving a MASTER CLASS (Мастер Класс Петра Термена = Peter Theremin's master class).
A "master class" is defined as a class in any discipline (usually artistic) given by a master or expert in that particular field.
Peter Theremin definitely has a certain charm on stage. He looks great and he expresses himself well (he is also dressing more neatly than he used to). Making a living in Mother Russia is a challenge for many people and Peter is eminently qualified to lecture on the history and development of his great grandfather's instrument. What he has failed to realize is that by attempting to pass himself off as a master thereminist, he discredits the very instrument he is trying to promote.
Thierry Frenkel
Amethyste
Peter Pringle
Thierry wrote in impeccable Latin: ".....o tempora, o mores.."
I reply in questionable English: ex tempora....o moron!
Lawrence P Kaster
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Martin E. G. Anhalt
this SPELLBOUND SUITE, though sometimes called "concerto" is NOT an arrangement of the Spellbound Concerto, but an arrangement of themes from the film score. It has little in common with the Spellbound Concerto except the opening. It was (as well) created in 1946 (one year after the film, disregard my prior comment), if I remember correctly, for Lucie Rosen, as a companion piece for Martinu's "Fantasy", so it uses the same intruments (string quartet, piano, oboe, and theremin).
You are of course right in that the theremin in the film score is associated with the Dementia theme and sounds misplaced playing the love theme, but this suite was always intended as a showcase for the theremin.
The 1984 SPELLBOUND CONCERTO FANTASY indeed replaces the Theremin with an Ondes Martenot. I don't remember exactly why, but I think it was because there were no capable theremin players at that time. The Ondes gets more to play, though I find the 1984 version a it rambling, as it tries to incorporate even more secondary themes than the Concerto did.
Peter Pringle
The idea of creating the SPELLBOUND CONCERTO was an attempt on the part of the ARA (American Recording Artists) label to turn the "Love Theme" from the film soundtrack into the kind of smash hit that the so-called WARSAW CONCERTO had been a few years earlier.
As Charlie Draper pointed out, the piano theme for the 1941 British WW II film, DANGEROUS MOONLIGHT (written by British composer Richard Addinsell in a decidedly rachmaninovian style), was a huge success and ended up making more money than the movie for which it had been written.
Everyone wanted to capitalize on the tremendous, worldwide popularity of Rachmaninoff's CONCERTO #2 for piano and orchestra, written in 1900. It is one of the most popular and enduring pieces of music of the 20th century and it inspired an entire genre of filmscoring. There was a whole series of rather awful romantic "tabloid concertos" - which are actually not concertos at all - written for movies in the mid-20th century. The SPELLBOUND CONCERTO is one of them.
"When we come to the concept of the avant garde or electronic music, I must say I don't understand it. It means nothing to me. Most of it is just sound effects." Miklos Rozsa
Martin E. G. Anhalt
There was a whole series of rather awful romantic "tabloid concertos" - which are actually not concertos at all - written for movies in the mid-20th century.
Lawrence P Kaster
Peter Pringle
Here is an arrangement of the SPELLBOUND CONCERTO that someone just posted to YT. It is accompanied by paintings most of which look as if they came from the art department at Walmart.
Rob Schwimmer
Peter Pringle
Schwim wrote: The Spellbound Concerto just generally sucks... World's dullest piano part which does nothing for either the piece or the piano...
I agree. It is over-arranged, highly derivative, and generally "labored". And don't forget, the "love theme" was not originally conceived for a single piano but for duo pianists Rack and Eadie who, on the day of the recording of the original film soundtrack, were forced to play on two very out-of-tune pianos because it was midsummer in L.A., and it was so hot in the studio they had to open the windows and the whole place was like a pressure cooker.
As for the "Dementia Theme", it was a rip-off of the Stravinsky "Berceuse" from the FIREBIRD SUITE, which Mr. Rozsa had heard Clara Rockmore play in concert, in New York City. This was the piece that inspired Rozsa to use a theremin in the first place, and to invite Clara to come out to Hollywood to record it. As we all know, she was not available due to her concert schedule, so the job went to Samuel Hoffman.....and the rest is hysterical....I mean HISTORY....
Here is an mp3 comparing the Stravinsky BERCEUSE and the DEMENTIA THEME from SPELLBOUND. I'm surprised Igor Stravinsky didn't sue Rozsa for plagiarism!
David Curtis
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Peter Pringle
David Curtis wrote: ".....For my money, the best of the film-piano-concerto works is Herrmann's diegetic concerto (according to the plot, composed by George Harvey Bone played by Laird Cregar) written for the 1945 film Hangover Square."
Sounds like Sergei Prokofiev met Dimitri Shostakovich in the parking lot of the MGM Grand.
One of the things that seems to distinguish the great composers from the lesser denizens of the world of music (including most composers of film music) is their ability to sustain an idea and maintain its intensity for more than a minute or two. My problem with Bernard Herrmann's diegetic concerto ("le concerto indigeste" ??) is that after its initial promising thematic statement, it quickly poops out into the world of fluff and filler where writers of music for the screen spend much of their lives.
One of the film composers of the same era who did not suffer from this kind of musical dyspepsia, and whose work is generally able to stand on its own without the backup of the movie for which it was written, was the brilliant Erich Wolfgang Korngold.
David Curtis
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