[Tall Guy]

I know you like odd detail, Thor, so Shostakovich is generally accepted as being the first composer to use a theremin in a score, for 1929’s “Odna” (“Alone”). At the time, he was 23 years old and the theremin was 10. It portrayed a snowy wasteland, and the score is on Naxos, as much brilliant Soviet era music is (see also their Weinberg releases).

[Thor Joachim Haga]

That’s an interesting piece of trivia. I wasn’t aware of any uses prior to FORBIDDEN PLANET, I think.

[Nick Zwar]

Did Forbidden Planet have a theremin? I don’t think it did, and I don’t recall a theremin sound in the score. But in any case Miklós Rózsa’s score for Spellbound (1945) precedes Forbidden Planet by over a decade, so Spellbound may have been the first Hollywood score to use it. I was unaware Shostakovich used the instrument in a film score even earlier.

[Thor Joachim Haga]

Did Forbidden Planet have a theremin? I don’t think it did, and I don’t recall a theremin sound in the score.

I always thought so, but apparently not. Wikipedia says:

“While the theremin had been used on the soundtracks of Spellbound (1945) and The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), the Barrons are credited with creating the first completely electronic film score, preceding the development of analog synthesizers by Robert Moog and Don Buchla in the early 1960s.”

[Tall Guy]

If you can bear another one (regret inviting me yet?), Yuri Gagarin sang Shostakovich’s song “My Homeland Hears” to the Soviet Space Centre on the inaugural orbital flight, making it the first space music.

Back to your topic, Mike Oldfield’s Killing Fields appears to fit.

[Thor Joachim Haga]

Huh. A man of many talents, that Yuri. Wish it had been caught on tape.

And yes, KILLING FIELDS is pitch perfect for the thread.

[Forfatter]

Innlegg