A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE ELECTRONIC INSTRUMENT KNOWN AS A THEREMIN ASSOCIATE IT WITH OTHERWISE WORLDLY SCIENCE FICTION WARBLING OR TERRIBLE HORRIFIC. However, Clara Rockmore, conceivably the first outstanding theremin virtuoso, took offense to those associations. She promoted the piece as a genuine piece of classical music deserving of a spot in the pit, right next to the violins and piano. Rockmore was a proponent of electronic music from the beginning, and she was as serious about the Theremin as anyone has ever been. Fortunately, she left many insightful guidelines for playing and enjoying the instrument. (If you decide to acquire one for yourself.)

For those unfamiliar with Theremin’s enchantment, Léon Theremin invented the instrument in the 1920s. The Theremin is a hands-off instrument, as opposed to conventional devices, which demand physical contact from the performer. To disrupt and change an electromagnetic field, the artist must hold her hands between a pair of antennae in midair and move them around in space. The computer responds by emitting buzzy, tremulous sounds that, with the right expertise, may be manipulated into various shapes. But it’s not simple.

Playing the Theremin demands fine body control and can appear primarily abstract to many aspiring virtuosos because it lacks most instruments’ standard physical input and output. Rockmore accepted the fleeting character of the device and intended to demystify it by regularly including it in classical performances.

Rockmore, a violin prodigy from what is now Lithuania, was born in 1911 and immigrated to the US to pursue a career in music. She ultimately met Theremin and began playing his experimental instrument after he made an unsuccessful marriage proposal. During her career, she rose to prominence as America’s and perhaps the world’s top theremin performer, appearing in numerous music halls and even traveling with the legendary Paul Robeson. She only published one album, The Art of the Theremin, in 1977. Robert Moog, a friend, and fellow electronic music pioneer created this compilation of classical performances.