Music for Ondes Martenot
Label: Naxos
Media: CD
Format: Album
WorkNameSort: Music for Ondes Martenot
Introduced in the late 1930’s, the ondes Martenot is but one of many odd electronic instruments conceived over the past decades as a potential orchestral device. The difference is, while theremins, tape-loop machines and their ilk have been largely relegated to novelty status, the ondes Martenot is actually employed by several orchestras and “serious” musicians. This selection of ondes Martenot works performed by Thomas Bloch ranges from solo performances (the dizzyingly sci-fiÐsounding “Formule,” composed by Bloch) to full orchestras (Bernard Wisson’s “Kyriades”); on some selections, the instrument is obviously a quasi-dorky electronic device (the swirling cacophony of Bloch’s “Sweet Suite,” for instance), while on others, its mellifluous gurgling fits right in. It’s on “Nightmare” (composed by Rock in Opposition comrade Lindsay Cooper) that the ondes Martenot gets a real workout, with Cooper pitting Bloch’s playing of it against an ensemble of vocalists, various percussion instruments and, of all things, a bassoon. It’s fittingly out-there and a great indicator of why the instrument still gets played.
This article appears in Sep 29 – Oct 5, 2004.