Ensemble D'Ondes De Montréal.
I believe there are four Ondes Martenots playing this piece, though I might be wrong. I'm not a huge fan of electronic instruments though, clearly, Messiaen was. His sister-in-law, Jeanne Loriod, the sister of Yvonne Loriod, was a virtuoso on the instrument, many of the recordings of his orchestral works have her playing even as they generally had Yvonne playing the piano parts.
One of the big defects of the widely touted theremin is that it doesn't really produce clear articulation and separation of notes. Or it's mighty hard to produce that effect. You can't really play staccato with one, and, then, there's the tone which is strange or what we imagine sounds "unearthly" though why anyone thinks they know what "unearthly" sounds like is an interesting question in itself.
I think the ondes Martenot is, in many ways, superior to the thermin or, in fact, lots of other electronic instruments. Though I can't really say it's something I find all that attractive. I'm posting this to show that even in the pre-war period, Messiaen was trying new things.
BTW, the Ondes Martenot is featured prominently in Alex North's score for the Stanley Kubrick flick SPARTACUS. Music that is vastly better than anything any of your favorite academic serialists ever wrote. Particularly my old college professor Stepan Wolpe.
ReplyDelete1. I strongly doubt you were at a level to get into any class that SteFan Wolpe would have been teaching, unless he was burdened with a music apre class.
Delete2. If Stefan Wolpe knew that you would be dropping his name in order to pretend he had any kind of professional association with you he'd probably have shot himself in the ear.
3. Alex North was a friggin bore, the kind of composer whose music needs a movie to sell it. Wolpe's music didn't need a movie and it still doesn't as it has the support of competent musicians. I would guess that concert and recital performances of Wolpe's music outnumbers those of North by dozens if not scores or hundreds to one. In the end it's performers who decide which music survives and which music doesn't.
4. I always figured Stefan Wolpe's music, like Arthur Berger's and Milton Babbitt's was too Jewish for your taste. Unless that would mean someone who guzzles schmaltz by the bucket. Your musical arteries are so constricted from it that your musical life is on life support.
5. The more time I spend away from Hollywood movies the more I don't miss them. When I go back and look at even the ones I used to like the more hokey they look. Spartacus began by being hokey.
You're so right -- Nobody plays Alex North's music.
Deletehttp://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_10/275-3324438-6917836?url=search-alias%3Dpopular&field-keywords=alex+north&sprefix=alex+north%2Cpopular%2C242
1. I realize you're reading deficient, I didn't say no one played his music, I said that there were definitely more performances of Wolpe's music to any performance of North's.
Delete2. Packaging and repackaging of ORIGINAL FILM SCORES doesn't constitute different performances, it constitutes repackaging of what, in most cases, is the one and only performance the music ever got. North didn't compose much in the way of concert music, he practiced the mid-range low-level art of the Hollywood film score. While there were some first-rate composers who wrote film music, most of it is second-rate or lower. Try comparing his discography with Wolpe's since that's what I did. Only you won't because you are a. ignorant, b. lazy, c. dishonest.
3. I doubt first rank performers often perform North's music, they do Wolpe's. I could compile a list but you probably wouldn't know the names.