Sunday Synth Jam: This rendition of Jules Massenet’s Meditation from Thais is performed on theremin by thereminist Thomas Grillo.
Grillo’s performance is impressive, despite some obvious challenges that arise from the fact that this was written for violin.
Whenever thereminists take on challenging works like this, it makes me wonder if theremins shouldn’t have a degree of quantization that can be dialed in. Intonation on a theremin is arguably trickier than on a violin, and this could level the playing field a bit.
Leave a comment with your thoughts on Grillo’s performance of Meditation – or your thoughts on whether thereminists could use a bit more help from theremin designers.
via ThomasGrillo
reminds me of a this lady who plays a similar repertoire on a bowed saw in the nyc subway stations. this guy is obviously a real musician and quite skilled with the theremin, but it'd be easier to take him seriously if he was dressed in cargo shorts, flip flops, and a baseball cap…or maybe if he had a big, toothy smile and some outrageously, gratuitous showmanship. but big ups, nonetheless.
as for quantization, it's like putting frets on a violin…you gain something, you lose something. maybe a better solution would be a plasticky guide marking the pitch locations without preventing the player from moving in between them.
I play the theremin, and quite frankly, I suck at it. Nevertheless, I would not want to see the theremin changed one iota from its now nearly-impossible-to-play-correctly existence.