Dorit Chrysler - a Master of Modern Theremin
IA: If I’ve understood correctly, you’re Austrian by origin, but been in New York already? Is there anything in your music that can be interpreted as expressing longing for your childhood landscape and atmosphere?
DC: I am sure that growing up in Austria has influenced my aesthetics aplenty. Running around in dark woods, ala Grimm Style and singing the part of one of the 3boys of Mozart’s magic Flute, for instance ...
IA: Ever sang the role of Gretl, the youngest daughter of Captain Von Trapp in Saltzburg?
DC: No, I haven’t!
IA: That’s my daughter’s favorite ... Just for my curiosity, how does it feel to be an expat in NY? Do you ever make use - or excuse - of the fact that in the end you’re from somewhere else?
DC: NY is unique in that its historic roots are based on immigration – hence, one never feels like a stranger in NYC, but in order to defi ne yourself in a foreign land, identity and cultural background take on a more important meaning ...
IA: Do societal matters matter to you? Could you think of composing something on, say, “collateral damage” i.e. causing premature human death as a side effect of an act that has a ‘good’ purpose?
DC: I make an effort to stay informed so I can make a difference, when the opportunity arises.
IA: Tell us briefly about your formal musical training? How did you learn to play all the instruments you nowadays play? And how would you evaluate the music education system in Austria?
DC: I am grateful for the strong musical tradition in Austria, and my parents encouraging to learn several instruments early on. From age 7 on, I somewhat randomly landed in the Children Choir of the Graz State Opera, and that vocal training and exposure to opera repertoire and drama probably shaped my musical aesthetics a lot.
IA: Looking back to your musical training and career, is there something you regret now, something you would do differently now if you could choose?
DC: What’s the point in regrets? I started playing the block flute, moving on to piano and guitar, I do think the piano opens up a world of many different musical styles and easy melodic access ... Talking about the instrument...
IA: Obviously, you parents’ choice for your music teachers was a happy one. It’s not always the case ... But what’s the story behind your first encounter with a theremin? Was it love at the first sight? Did the famous film theremin: An Electronic Odyssey play any role in this?
DC: Yes - love at fi rst sight it was, I saw it at a friends house and tried it. I was instantly so impressed by its dynamic dimensions and possibilities – seeing the wonderful documentary afterwards and getting to know the story behind it, made it only more attractive ...
IA: And by “dynamic dimension” or potential you mean the range, and transition between the softest, ppp sound the theremin can make, and the loudest, fff?”
DC: Yes, exactly.
IA: We have been taught that a sound means human imposed vibration, I mean concretely – blowing a horn, scratching a string or saw blade, hitting a drum or piece of ice etc. etc. Does it have any profound meaning to you that the sound of a Theremin is a result of not being in physical contact with anything i.e. a kind of artistic shadow boxing?
DC: It means, that the theories should be revised to include this source of sound creation also – and if the instrument can be more established by good players in different music genres, the general perception might be expanded. I feel like a pioneer sometimes, out to prove that the theremin is a legitimate instrument, and its way of creating sounds is just another alternative. It is a relatively young instrument by its way of tone generation in comparison with string, percussive and horn instruments, so it will just take a bit more time ...
IA: When I fi rst saw you performing in Langenargen, Germany, you had quite a traditional and sympathetic looking theremin along with you. But you dumped that instrument for something more modern? Why was that? What are the main differences between the earlier models and more recent, professional Theremins?
DC: The main difference for me is the volume antenna, which is much more receptive and detailed in higher quality models, hence in order to reach real dynamics and a beautiful tone, it is necessary to play better instruments. I now play the etherwave Pro, the concert theremin by Moog, the last instrument he made before he died, - it is a very advanced model and beautiful to play, it has a standby button, 3 ranges and 7 different tone settings.
IA: If you had to describe the sound of a theremin to someone from the planet Mars, how would you describe it?
DC: A completely unique sound with great dynamic dimension and a range of several octaves with many different colors, ranging from violent to sweet, strangely eery sound quality, maybe close to a human voice in the high range or a cello in the low range.
IA: That’s nice ... Would you really say that a thereminist is able to play with the tone color in a way, say, a cellist or a violinist can? Which of the qualities of the theremin sound, apart from pitch and volume, are the most important for you?
DC: If a thereminist is good and competent and plays a professional instrument, it is very well possible to play with the tone color like a cellist or violinist, the pitch issue is maybe even more critical though. Personally, I do really love the low range of the etherwave pro, it is unique and rich and luscious sounding.
IA: I guess theremin kind of sounds can nowadays be produced with mod- ern synthesizers or signal processors. Why not use them?
DC: The motion of the hand in its subtlety can not be compared to the regular modulation of tone of a synthesizer, hence a theremin will always sound more organic and immediate, cause less regular and more unstable sound – in a good way ...
IA: To my surprise, some people seem to have prejudices regarding the theremin’s sound. Is that because of some historical reason, e.g. some famous recording or fi lm that has involved theremin sounds? Or can it be related to the same phenomenon as I’ve noticed in the connection with a Hawaiian gui tar: people think that when they have heard it once, they have heard it for all. Is there such a thing as an idiomatic theremin sound?
DC: Well, the theremin is extremely hard to play and the basic sound quality without much dynamic development can get rather tedious, as it involves many highs – if someone has not spend a lot of time with the instrument, it can sound terrible, and that is the impression it makes on people hearing it the first time, not thinking that it might be capable of more ...
IA: The number of electric instruments, which do not require touching them – the so called air instruments with which the sound is produced by bodily movements in air - is increasing rapidly. Are those threatening the position of the theremin? Will air instruments one day conquer the world and replace the traditional instruments as Leon Theremin once predicted?
DC: There needs to be no replacement, but air instruments can coexist with traditional instruments comfortably. Maybe in a world of technology, it is more than ever fascinating to play an electronic instrument that still has such a strong organic feel and sound as it responds to the detailed motion of a human hand ...
IA: I know this is relevant to some of our readers ... Can PA-speakers be a limiting factor to the success of the upshot in your live concerts? Or HiFi- speakers at home for that matter?
DC: Absolutely! For best reproduction of theremin generated sounds, it is necessary that the sound-reproduction system has a wide dynamic range, and appropriate high frequency extension.
IA: Do you have any models in theremin playing? Historical or current? Of the current thereminists, can you name some whose art you especially value?
DC: There are several great thereminists of today, each with a very unique style, to name a few, Rob Schwimmer, Pamelia Kurstin, Lydia Kavina, Barbara Buchholz, Armen Ra ... I am encouraged by all of their accomplishments...
IA: On whose side you’re on the question of formal techniques versus free form?
DC: Being familiar with both, I would not want one without the other – it is a happy coexistence – I like varying it! Your music then ...
IA: Many musicians dislike classifying their music. I don’t quite see why. Classifying and categorizing is the first step to try to analyze and understand – i.e. thinking. In this spirit, if you had to classify your music, what would it be? Electronic pop? Experimental electronic music? Both and something more? Basically I’m asking because I want to get a better grip of the role of electronics in your music?
DC: Both sounds good. I am also venturing more into movie soundtracks, that can be maybe better described as soundscapes, furthermore the classical aspect of playing pieces in tune in har- monies in duos or trios is also interesting. I like to demonstrate the vast variety this instrument is capable of, and hence use it as a solo instrument in a more traditional song, or creating sound layers atop each other, facilitating its unique fluid way of playing or using it in some of the more traditional sense. In general, I would like to believe, that I have a characteristic color and playing style but like to explore and dabble in many different styles ...
IA: I’ve got only one of your records, a home-made compilation, as you once described it. The music on that record is largely based on Western triad tonality, 4/4 beat etc. ‘supplemented’ with the sounds generated with the theremin. How would you explain the presence of the theremin in these songs? Pure decoration? Adding atonality?
DC: No, as I said before, using the instrument like any other instrument to add its voicing to the complex sound structure of songs, but it also gets more and more interesting for me to loop lay- ers of theremin atop each other and to get a very unique sounding collage of Theremin in different ranges with its unique dynamic capabilities.
IA: On the record, your voice is special, very appealing, mysterious, sometimes approaching speech, sometimes modulated by electronic sounds etc. But one feature drew my attention es- pecially: you keep very few pauses in your singing. The vocal part often dominates the accompanying part. Is that intentional, or am I completely mistaken about this? Anyway, this feature makes the compositions sound more like song poems than pieces of electronic pop, for example. Wrong again?
DC: The vocal compositions are song structures with stories to tell – yes, but why is that not electronic pop?
IA: Why not indeed ... When you per formed in the Austrian Cultural Centre in NY, with Gibby Hanes and his laptop in 2005, that was definitely experimental material, more about sounds than music in traditional terms, very pulsative, energetic, tense music. Is your music evolving more and more toward that direction, and is experimentation what you’re pursuing through the newly founded NY Theremin Society?
DC: The New York theremin Society is serving the theremin community as a platform to give different players the possibilities to perform in front of greater audiences – and to encourage playing together, The original goal was to create an experimental theremin Orchestra, and this year, grants are commissioned to 7 members of the society to write new compositions for theremin. Also, as the president of the theremin Society, I am contacted all the time with different demands involving the there- min, for instance the LA Philharmonic Association does want to recreate an evening that took place at the Carnegie hall in 1932, involving 10 theremins playing Edward Grieg – the theremin Society is now producing this event and selecting the players, who else could do it?
IA: When you compose, do you write scores – stardard or graphic - for the theremin part, or you focus on sound textures directly? Are you opposed to using any analogue acoustic instruments in your music?
DC: I don’t write score, but trust my ears. I do like to mix electronic with acoustic, and prefer in general the warmth of analog sounds!
IA: Lyrics then. I feel I’m incompetent to ask anything about any musician’s lyrics. Let’s say I’m a non-fiction guy, and as such not extremely excited about pure fi ction and poetry. On the other hand, I do understand that ordinary human speech is filled with allegories or metaphors, and that those need not be less true than sentences that can clearly be either true or false? How metaphorically should one read the lyrics of your songs?
DC: A song tells a story in an abstract poetic way – I would like to let everyone interpret it on their own, whatever conscious and subconscious place those words are coming from, the listener will turn it into something else, nurturing his own interpretations ...
IA: Do you believe music can actually represent something, human emotions, for instance? Putting representation aside, what in your mind is music’s expressiveness based on?
DC: Yes, music can be expression of human emotions, in a very direct and abstract way that transcends languages and cultures. When I studied music science, I did learn about psychological studies of chord progressions influencing or inducing specific emotions in human beings, but I would like to believe that it would be impossible, to fully control human emotions through music. If anything, I like the vagueness and impossibility of pinning down, what music expressiveness is exactly based on, especially after studying music science for many years that is partly based to attempting exactly that – a quixotic effort, in my eyes.
IA: In recent years you’ve been touring frequently in Europe? Is that because your art and music is better appreciated here - and in Japan? If so, why do you think that’s the case? Do you believe that there are genuine cultural differences between the old and the new continent?
DC: No, it has more to do with the fact, that in Europe, the funding for arts and music is better established and less commercially based. Of course there are many cultural differences on the old and new continent, but music transcends this hopefully.
IA: You’ve performed on many records with other famous musicians? Which of these you yourself regard as the most dear to you?
DC: I’ve learned so much working with other dear colleagues, it would be impossible to point out any one in specific, I am still in close contact with Jim Thirlwell, whose musical development and ventures has always been extremely inspiring...
IA: As to your solo recordings, I’m a bit confused about this part of your discography. How many solo records you have released so far? And what’s coming next?
DC: I’ve put out two solo CD’s and one vinyl – and am currently working on a new solo record. Lately there have been many compilations and projects released, and it gets hard to be on top of it at this point.
IA: Some electronic musicians release their music only on the net. What do you make of that?
DC: I like the autonomy, the Internet allows musicians. Before getting involved in huge corporate structures, e.g. big record labels, one should be well informed. I like the idea of being your own company as a musician, collaborating with small labels and booking agents.
IA: Name three most influential Theremin records to you personally?
DC: As for favorite theremin re- cordings, hmm ... , I like perfume for music, with Samuel Hoffman playing the theremin.
IA: The LP you released, was that an ad hoc –effort, or are you’re records being published in both formats regularly? Do you own a record player?
DC: I have a very old record player – don’t ask the model – nothing fancy – and Yes, if it would be up to me, I’d like to release everything I do in vinyl also.
IA: Do you differentiate between sound art and music? Is music nothing but organised sounds? Tell us also more about the sound work or installation you realized for the French Cultural Ministry in Paris, and performed also at the World Fair in Japan?
DC: Hmm ... when I do sound installations, they are compositions – and not organized sounds. The French Cultural Ministry installation was great fun, as it was installed in the elevator that the ministry personnel is riding, and the challenge was to pack something into 30 sec that will effect and alter the day of the innocent elevator rider ...
IA: You’ve also given courses on Theremin playing. How difficult it is to actually learn to play the theremin? At what age can one start studying theremin playing?
DC: I think there might not necessarily be an age limit, in fact, if starting to play early, it might really help train your hearing. In Russia in the 60s, for a while the theremin was used for children for just that ... To really play the instrument though, requires a lot of patience and practice, I’d say, it’s about as difficult to play like a violin.
IA: If somebody would be keen on buying a theremin, could you recommend some brand/model for a beginner?
DC: Moog? .. ha ha
IA: You’ve given concerts in Copenhagen and Stockholm. When will you come to Helsinki? I mean the real city, not some club in Zurich!
DC: I would love to come and play in Helsinki, but the opportunity has not arisen so far..
IA: One final question. In the theremin photography, what should the exact position of the hands be for the best, most artistic result?
DC: Every player really has his or her own natural hand position ... but the hands should never be strained!
IA: Thousand thanks, Dorit, for this interview. ■
PS. Go to Dorit Chrysler’s website to hear the sound of her theremin:
About the theremin
Thereminin tekniikasta ja historiasta Theremin on soitin, jossa on kaksi antenniin kytkettyä suurtaajuusos- killaattoria.Toinen antenneista säätelee äänen korkeutta (pitch), toinen voimakkuutta.
Soittaminen tapahtuu viemällä kädet lähemmäksi antenneja kosketamatta niitä. Mitä lähempänä käsi on pystyantennia, sitä korkeampi ääni. Vaakatason antennin läheisyys pienentää äänen voimakkuutta.
Thereminin keksi venäläinen fyysikko, sellisti ja sähköinsinööri Leon Theremin vuonna 1919. Hän oivalsi ensimmäisenä, että ihmisen kehon kapasitanssia voi käyttää äänitaajuuksien hallintaan, aivan kuten soittimissa säädellään äänen korkeutta. Samalla se vapauttaa muusikon koskettimistosta ja kiinteästä intonaatiosta.
Äänen korkeutta säädetään thereminissä siten, että yksi suurtaajuusoskillaattori toimii kiinteällä, esimerkiksi 170 kHz:n taajuudella, ja toinen käden liikkeiden mukaan vaihtuvalla taajuudella, esimerkiksi 168 – 170 kHz. Kun signaalit sekoitetaan toisiinsa, syntyy kuuloalueella oleva erotussignaali, esimerkiksi 2000 Hz. Voimakkuuden säätö tapahtuu siten, että kiinteälle taajuudelle viritettyyn oskillaattoriin kytketään antenniin kytketty värähtelypiiri. Käden kapasitanssi muuttaa taajuutta, jolloin signaali pienenee. Signaali ohjataan soittimen vahvistusasteeseen ja sieltä kaiuttimeen.
Theremin-soitin oli ensi kertaa julkisesti esillä Moskovan teollisuusmessuilla vuonna 1920. Kerrotaan, että paikalla oli myös Lenin, joka halusi välittömästi oppia soittamaan thereminiä. Myöhemmin Lenin lähetti 600 thereminiä kiertämään Neuvostoliittoa osoituksena nuoren val- tion tekniikan kehittyneisyydestä.
Theremin itse muutti USA:han 1927 ja sai patentin soittimelleen jo 1928. RCA valmistutti heti 500 thereminiä General Electricillä ja Westinghousella. Theremin jäi edistämään soittimensa vastaanottoa USA:ssa kunnes hänet tiettävästi kidnapatiin takaisin Neuvostoliittoon 1938. Neuvostoliiton hajoamisen jälkeen Theremin ehti vielä vierailla USA:ssa.
Leon Thereminin oli idealisti. Hän uskoi thereminin eteerisen musiikin tulevaisuudessa korvaavan perinteisen orkesterin. Näin ei käynyt. Thereminiä on käytetty musiikissa efektilaitteena ja korvaamaan viulujen osuutta. 1950- ja 1960- luvuilla theremin oli yleinen elokuvien, erityisesti skifi-elokuvien, ääniraidoilla. Myös monet bändit, kuten Beach Boys ja Led Zeppelin, käyttivät thereminiä tehosteäänien lähteenä levyillään.
Uutta tulemista itsenäisenä soittimena theremin on yrittänyt 1990-luvulta lähtien. Yksi professori Thereminin ensimmäisistä oppilaista USA:ssa oli venäläissyntyinen viulusti Clara Rockmore. Rockmore joutui kuitenkin luopumaan viulistin urastaan ja omistautui kokonaan thereminille. Hänestä tuli nopeasti maailman johtava thereminin soittaja, joka oli kuuluisa tarkasta soittotyylistään.
Thereministä kiinnostuneiden on syytä hankkia Steven M. Martinin tuottama dokumenttielokuva Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey (1993). DVD:nä saatava dokumentti kertoo thereminin ja sen keksijän vaiheista. Haastatelta- vina ovat muun muassa Robert Moog, Todd Rundgren ja Brian Wilson, kuin myös Professori Leon Theremin itse!