Ondes Martenot, or, When Maurice Met Leon.

flapjax at midnite — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 23:04:37 -0800

When Maurice Martenot met Lev Sergeivich Termen in the early 1920's and heard his revolutionary new musical instrument the Theremin, he was inspired to create his own electroacoustic instrument , which he christened Ondes Martenot. Next year will mark the 80th anniversary of the first performance of this remarkable hybrid keyboard which, aside from its lovely and ethereal sound, is also aesthetically pleasing visually, with its handsome collection of multiple speakers. See and hear the instrument being played and explained in this video interview and demonstration by Jean Laurendeau, which closes with a lovely rendition of the theme from Star Trek. And, here's the instrument in use, live, alongside who else? Radiohead. More videos: Claude-Samuel Lévine in a performance of Messiaen's Feuillets Inedits, from Google video. And here Levine demonstrates his prowess on the Ondes Martenot as well as the Theremin in this (" He played with RADIOHEAD ! ") YouTube clip. Here's the same clip on Google video. This clip opens with a very good shot of the instrument being played, filmed from the player's perspective. Here's the English homepage of Japanese Ondes Martenot virtuoso Takashi Harada. Here's Harada serenading the shoppers at a department store. Here's a page from the Canadian Music Centre's "Electronic Frontiers" series, featuring a composition by Jacques Hétu: Concerto for Ondes Martenot. Here's an article on Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood, in which he talks about his interest in the Ondes Martenot. And here's Greenwood's interview with Ondes Martenot player Jeanne Loriod. Here's a page from MusicWeb International on Thomas Bloch's album Music for Ondes Martenot, with some info on various Ondes Martenot compositions featured on the recording. Here's a new version of the instrument, from the UK's Analogue Systems, which they call the "French Connection". And... for anyone who'd like to hear more from Theremin virtuoso Clara Rockmore, here's her MySpace Music page. And finally, I should note that the Ondes Martenot made a brief appearance in this MeFi post previously.

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Ondes Martenot, or, When Maurice Met Leon.