A big thank you to all who recommended seeing this fascinating and exceptionally inspirational film.
Theremin - An Electronic Odyssey (****)
Leon Theremin's is an amazing story, though for me the real star is Clara Rockmore, one of the greatest musicians of all times, and here we have, in addition to moving footage of her captivating performances, the treat of witnessing her with an understandably adoring Leon on her 18th birthday - Brian Wilson's pointless ramblings should have been edited out completely
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I was lucky enough to go for dinner with Lydia Kavina the great neice of Leon Theremin a few years ago when I was living in London.
A fascinating lady and a wonderful Theremin player. It was a privalidge hearing about Mr Theremin and Ms Rockmore's story firsthand.
The Clara Rockmore video used to be available through Bob Moog's website. It was recorded in his home in the 70's.
If I remember the same footage of Brian Wilson (I'm not 100% sure, been quite a while) I thought it was quite painful to watch because of him not being exactly at ease, to put it mildly. That said, it probably should've been clear to the makers of the film that he wouldn't have too much to say about the theremin, since he only worked with that instrument three times in the mid-60s. Most definitely, nobody would care to ask the guy about the cello for a film about that very instrument, which was featured just as prominently as the theremin in Good Vibrations. In interviews, he can actually (even today) be quite lucid when talking about things he really cares about.
Brian Wilson, an embarrassment. (And technically speaking it's not truly a theremin on Good Vibrations, at least not the kind played in the air.) Todd Rundgren? Who cares. Clara Rockmore, definitely a treasure and agreed she's the most fascinating thing to watch in this film. There's a little more footage of her in the OHM 3CD set that was reissued with the DVD. I've seen the aforementioned Lydia Kavina perform, and I totally fell for her, she's beautiful to see.
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