Crazy Little [Theremin] Waltz

Here is an original new composition called PETITE VALSE FOLLE ("Crazy Little Waltz") written for theremin. This is played on the Moog Etherwave Pro theremin, which has been modified with the addition of the EPVM1345 module, designed by French  "thérémingénieur" Thierry Frenkel. 

For years my E'Pro theremin sat silently in a corner because its volume control was too "snappy" and did not permit the kind of expression I require when I play. Fortunately, I have other theremins I could use but when Thierry introduced his volume module I installed one right away in the E'Pro and discovered a whole new instrument!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qZt53Ly7jo

Peter, you are on a creative tear! Great work! Keep it coming

Hi Schwim,

For years I have been complaining that there is nothing written specifically for the theremin (other than some very obscure material and aleatoric compositions that cannot be accurately reproduced beyond the original improvised performance). 

A few weeks ago I was right in the middle of recording a theremin transcription of APRES UN REVE by Gabriel Fauré when I suddenly stopped and said to myself, "Self, WTF are you doing? No matter how well you do this it's never going to sound better than Régine Crespin!"

In fact, I have never heard any theremin transcription of anything, played by anybody, that surpasses the original composition played on the instrument the composer intended it for.

So I decided on the spot that from now on I am going to play my own compositions. Is anybody going to want to listen to them??  Probably not. But I gotta do it anyway.

Peter, if I remember well your EPVM1345 module has a very low serial number, it was one of the first which I produced. And I'm still very proud that you are so satisfied with it.

I like the petite valse folle very much! And I got the impression that "les Messieurs Poulenc et Satie" were looking from their balcony, smiling.

Hi Thierry,

The PETITE VALSE FOLLE was intended as a sort of "encore piece" - splashy, fun, and not very difficult. As it turned out, it may be splashy & fun but proved to be unexpectedly hard to play. When I wrote it, I sang the part that was intended for the theremin because it is relatively easy to play the piano and sing simultaneously (Glenn Gould did it all the time).

The video you see was probably the fifth or six attempt to play it all the way through to my own satisfaction. 

Yes, Monsieur Satie may well have been smiling down from his balcony but Poulenc was peeking out of the bushes and giggling wickedly. I hate to think what he was doing there!! I used to know someone who knew Poulenc quite well and the stories about him were both hilarious and shocking......perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that his music is also hilariously shocking, particularly for the period in which he wrote it. 

I was among the first to install the EPVM1345. Has it been improved since the first modules were made? If so, how is it different today from what it was when you first began making them? Are the new modules in any way superior to the old ones? If they are, I would like to purchase and install one of the newer ones.....on the other hand, I am very happy with the one I have. 

I never had an idea about how to improve the EPVM1345 module. Everybody who owns one seems to be satisfied. It does its job for which it was designed well and the jumpers allow selecting one of 4 response curves, although the first and the second (EPro original response and the slightly improved R. Moog fix) may have become obsolete. I added them to my design in 2009 only because I was a freshman in that domain and nobody knew about me and my faculties. Thus I offered these two "fallback" settings for people who could not yet trust me or the module.

The only difference between the first ~50 modules and the later ones is that I built them first fully by hand on Veroboard (took me more than 1h per module) while I designed later a PCB layout (exactly similar to the Veroboard layout) and ordered a bunch of another 50 PCBs to make the production easier. Since the module deals only with DC, especially the primary volume control current (no, it's not yet a voltage at this point in the EPro), the board layout is not critical. The components and the board size are still exactly the same. Thus there is really no need for and no gain in replacing an older version by a newer one. 

If I owned an EPro myself, I most probably would even prefer the older module version for a simple narcissistic reason: It was still really handcrafted by me...

I really like this piece! (I must admit I get mesmerized watching your performances as well as listening to them)

I wonder:

1. It has some intervallic complexity that must have been challenging. What is your approach to playing disjunct and complex harmonic music on the theremin? Multiple jumps at discordant intervals is pretty much tightrope walking without a net for me at this stage. Is this pretty must just trusting hand positions?

2. You get really great sound on your videos. Can you share a bit on how you record them. What kind of levels you are looking for with the theremin. What kind of production processing you do after recording?

Thanks

Rich

PETITE VALSE FOLLE was intended as a sort of "encore piece" - splashy, fun, and not very difficult.

No doubt not very difficult for Peter. But there are some very tricky intervals in there and some fast rhythmic things as well to deal with as well and some very interesting harmonic twists and turns.

This is not an easy piece compared to things that are a lot more stepwise and more traditionally tonal- but then "easy" is a very relative term.

Rich

Very nice composition, Peter.  Well played!

One of the strengths of the theremin is that it is no more difficult to play in any one key than it is in any other key.   The non-standard chord changes in your work exploit this.

Certainly not the most difficult work that you have played yet it still contains some good challenges in a few passages.