Clara Rockmore's Lost Theremin Album
Related: Clara Rockmore's lost album available for pre-order
By Jason - 12/27/2006 -
Miscellaneous
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Albums, Clara Rockmore
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Anyway, I got home and found that Clara Rockmore's Lost Theremin Album was waiting for me. So, much as I really just want to go to bed... C'mon man, it's a [i]Clara Rockmore[/i] album for goodness sake! So, of course, I'd spend 5 or 10 minutes listening to a few highlights before going to bed.
It's now 45 minutes later, and I haven't been able to turn it off.
Ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod it's good. It's not "as good as her first album", it's [i]better[/i]. Musically, and technically. I like some of these pieces more, I think the performances are astonishing, the recording is [i]clearer[/i], and the mixes are better. (You can hear Nadia's glorious piano much better, while it never ever swamps the Theremin.) It conveys not only the sensitivity with which Clara and Nadia played, but also begins to give a sense of the power they could project when the piece called for it. I can't wait to have an opportunity to play the recording of Mattheson's [i]Air[/i] in the daytime, when I can turn up the volume and not worry about waking the neighbors, and give it the opportunity to wail as it deserves.
If you haven't bought it yet, then I encourage you to do so immediately. It is destined to be permanently one of the crown jewels of Theremin history. Someday we may hope that someone may match its quality, but I do not believe it can ever be exceeded.
Thanks for the quick review, now I probably won't sleep till it arrives.
OMG, this is a wonderful album, very clean restoration and in some ways more varied then the first Clara album.
In addition to the performances with her sister, the ones with other instruments, 'cello ensemble and another with guitar, are a revelation and combined with "Summertime" and "Ave Maria" gives me a vivid sense of what it must have been like to see her tours with Paul Robeson.
I will still hope for even more recordings and film to surface, but am very thankful to the folks who got this one done.
Also on the wish list is a full biography of Clara, with info. on her husband who no body mentions and is not in the photos.
Oh speaking of photos, anyone know where you can get a good print of her playing from her later years, either at home on in the studio when these recordings were made?
The final dedication in the CD booklet was touching and appropriate.