Tag: russia

Guest Mix: Oiseaux des Plaines Russes

Guest mix by DBGO (Soundcloud / YouTube / Playmoss)

This is a selection of music composed by USSR artists from 1976 to 1995. The cover picture has been taken from the cover of the album Oiseaux Des Plaines Russes by Борис Вепринцев. I prepared this playlist right after my second (Ella) was born and during pandemic times, hope you enjoy it.

Previous mixes from DBGO: Vojtěch a Irena | A caballo, Tarumba | Où est allé le temps, 2ème Partie | Où est allé le temps, 1ère Partie

Tracklist:
1. Collage – Kodu Kaugel (1978)
2. René Eespere – Unemaal (1987)
3. Ilona Papečkytė – Šuliny Šaltini (1992)
4. Echidna Aukštyn – Echidnos Sesija Su M.Litvinskiu (3 Dalis “Kleboniškis”, Fragmentas) (1995)
5. Heino Jürisalu – Unelaul (1977)
6. Ленинградский Джаз-Ансамбль – Ария (1976)
7. Sven Grunberg – Hästi (1979)
8. Асфальт – Тихая Песня (1990)
9. Влади́мир Тара́сов – Монотипии IV (1986)
10. Kuriokhin & Kaiser – Frozen Reflection (1989)
11. Владимир Рацкевич & Олег Литвишко – Action (1992)
12. Giedrius Kuprevicius – Erotidijos (Part 8)
13. Giedrius Kuprevicius – Berceuse first computer version (1996)
14. Wejdas – Nežinomiems Dievams (1994)
15. NSRD – Vakars Aiz Priekšējā Stikla (1988)
16. Sven Grunberg – Ka Siber (1990)
17. Vidmantas Bartulis – Du Klausimai Laukinės Slyvos Medžiu – Apie Meilę (1986)
18. Борис Вепринцев – Rouge-gorge (Erithacus Rubecula) (1967)

[Mix for NTS Radio] Getting Warmer Episode 48

Here’s my most recent episode of Getting Warmer for NTS Radio–pleased to realize that it’s my 48th episode, meaning that this show recently turned four years old. Sharing this show has, in all sincerity, been one of the most rewarding and pleasurable things I’ve ever done, so I’m grateful to all who have listened.

As I was putting this mix together I was thinking about the million people we’ve lost to COVID-19, a fifth of whom were Americans. Many of them died alone, with no family or friends present, and many of them still haven’t yet been given funerals because of travel or safety restrictions. Here in America, there has been no national mourning, reckoning, or even acknowledgment of what we’ve lost. Our president trivializes the disease and its impacts, and he belittles and dismisses the 210,000 lives we’ve lost to it, every day. It feels incredibly difficult to move through collective grief when our leadership has not only learned nothing from its mistakes but is actively denying that mistakes were ever made or are still being made.

This is my dedication to those who’ve died and to those who loved them: music that, to me, feels otherworldly, reverent, and resonant with the gravity of loss. It’s mostly Russian choral music, which I love for its dark, watery awe, though it there are also a few moments of Japanese medieval futurism. It also includes two of my favorite choral pieces, Rachmaninoff’s “Bogoroditse Devo” from his All-Night Vigil and a choral adaptation of Bach’s “Komm Süsser Tod.” I hope you enjoy it–you can download an mp3 version here. Sending love, and thanks as always for being here 💙

Tracklist:
1. Yoko Kanno – Aqua (Cello Version)
2. The USSR Ministry Of Culture Chamber Choir – Hymn Of The Cherubim (Excerpt) (Comp. Tchaikovsky)
3. Osnabrücker Jugendchor – Amplius (Comp. Gregorio Allegri)
4. This Mortal Coil – Song To The Siren
5. MDR Rundfunkchor – Bogoroditse Devo (All-Night Vigil, Op. 37 “Vespers”) (Comp. Rachmaninoff)
6. Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble – Komm Süsser Tod (Come, Sweet Death) (Comp. Bach)
7. Yoko Kanno – Aqua
8. St. Petersburg Chamber Choir – Chorale (Comp. Josef Ketchakhmadze)
9. Bulgarian State Radio & Television Mixed Choir – I Have Chosen The Blissful (Comp. Alexander Gretchaninov)
10. Geinoh Yamashirogumi – Falling As Flowers Do – Dying A Glorious Death
11. Choir of King’s College – Nyne Otpushchayeshi (Nunc Dimittis) (All-Night Vigil, Op. 37 “Vespers”) (Comp. Rachmaninoff)
12. St. Petersburg Chamber Choir – Alleluia, Behold The Bridegroom (Anonymous)
13. The Cambridge Singers – Libera Nos, Salva Nos (Comp. John Sheppard)
14. Unknown – Russian Cathedral Bells

[Mix for NTS Radio] Getting Warmer Episode 14

Listen to my newest mix for NTS Radio below. Moody slow-burners, futuristic textures, and a few anachronisms. If you like it, you can download an mp3 version here. Enjoy!

Tracklist:
1. Владимир Леви & Ким Брейтбург – Не Уходи, Дарящий (thanks David!)
2. Susumu Yokota – King Dragonfly
3. Roberto Musci & Giovanni Venosta – Water Music
4. Ichiko Hashimoto – La, La Maladie Du Sommeil
5. Penguin Café Orchestra – Numbers 1-4
6. John Martyn – Please Fall In Love With Me
7. Yumi Murata – Face To Face
8. Unknown Artists (Burundi) – Akazehe Par Deux Jeunes Filles
9. Ryuichi Sakamoto – Put Your Hands Up (Opening) (TBS News 23 1997)
10. Wilson Tanner – Pilot
11. Françoise Hardy – Ce N’est Pas Un Rêve
12. Sean McCann – Video Singing Score No.3
13. Alice Coltrane – Yamuna Tira Vihari
14. Nuno Canavarro – Antica/Burun
15. Dolly Parton – Gonna Hurry (As Slow As I Can)

Clara Rockmore – Theremin, 1977

Clara Rockmore may have the coolest story of all the early electronic musicians. Born in 1911 in what is now Lithuania, at four years old she was admitted to the St. Petersburg Imperial Conservatory where she studied violin under Leopold Auer. To this day, she’s still the youngest student ever admitted to the conservatory (probably a good thing). A teenage arthritic condition left her unable to continue playing the violin, leading her to study the theremin (the first mass-produced electronic instrument, and arguably the coolest because it’s played by manipulating electrical signals in the air rather than by touching anything solid).

She was an instant theremin prodigy and went on to help Léon Theremin*, who might have been slightly obsessed with her, make a lot of changes to its design in order to realize its full potential. She insisted on a faster left hand to permit staccato, rather than having it be “all molasses, all glissando.” She also wanted a five octave range instead of three (which made it way harder to control the pitch but allowed for greater melodic possibility), increased sensitivity of the pitch antenna, and a lowered profile of the instrument. Despite touring extensively to widespread acclaim, she only finally recorded her performances at the behest of Bob Moog himself (as in “Ugh Bob made me do it lol”) in 1977. Thanks Bob! There’s a very sweet conversation between Clara, her sister, her nephew, Dr. Moog, and Dr. Thomas Ray which takes place over what appears to be a candy-tinted Tim Burton-esque dessert table that you can watch here.

*Read more about another insane thing that Léon Theremin made here.

TLDR: Nobody has ever inhabited the theremin like Rockmore. Maybe the original female electronic music virtuoso, as she was touring with her custom-made theremin in the 30s. Watch some videos of her channeling sounds out of thin air like a ghostly medium, face far away and ecstatic, and try not to cry. Otherworldly, but deeply human.

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