Here’s a performance of TRIANGULUM, for three theremins, by Armenian composer Martin Ulikhanyan, and featuring Lydia Kavina, Carolina Eyck and Satenik Hakobyan-Ulikhanyan (wife of the composer). The video is from WITHOUT TOUCH 6.0 I love the composition, and the performance is stunning. I listened to it three times. Lydia, who played lead theremin (upper register), is at her finest and held this thing together beautifully. Carolina, who played the bass register, is solid as a rock under difficult circumstances. If this composition were for violin, viola and cello, Lydia would be on violin, Satenik on viola and Carolina on cello. As an “a cappella” theremin piece, as with “a cappella” singers, the danger is “pitch drift” (the tendency for the ensemble to slide collectively flat or sharp) and that is exactly what happens here. I think the reason for it is that thereminist Satenik H.-U., as competent as she is, is not quite as secure with her technique as the other two players and tended to pull the whole thing slightly flat. My impression is that Lydia and Carolina seemed to be aware of this and kept steering the trio back on course. This was not a big deal - it only involved a digression of about 50 cents (about a quarter tone) from the established G# at the start of the composition. I imagine most casual audience members probably wouldn’t even be aware of it. I do not have perfect pitch, but I do have something called “pitch memory” and once I have fixed on a tone that has been established, I am aware of slippage. If I recall correctly, Martin Ulikhanyan is a concert clarinetist as well as a fine composer. I hope he writes some more for theremin. I also hope I haven’t given the impression that I did not enjoy this BECAUSE I DID…..very much. https://youtube/watch?v=NNoizU43quY
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 20:01:19 +0000
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