Henry and Mimi at the Y

Leon Theremin’s name-carrying electronic instrument, introduced in 1919, is perhaps the most bizarre electronic instrument of any lasting significance. But at the instigation of Henry Cowell, Theremin almost outdid himself only a decade later when he developed the rhythmicon, an extraordinary 17-key polyphonic keyboard which, through a series of rotating disks interrupting light beams which triggered photo-electric cells, produced single notes repeated in periodic rhythm for as long as keys were held down. In more recent times, Nick Didkovsky created a much more easily navigable online simulacrum of the rhythmicon for Minnesota Public Radio’s groundbreaking American Mavericks Internet series, which in turn inspired each of the nine compositions on this new Innova CD. The one most influenced by the rhythmicon’s pedigree, however, is Henry and Mimi at the Y by none other than the guy who runs Innova, Philip Blackburn. Blackburn’s piece is a tribute to a concert that took place at the San Francisco YMCA on May 15, 1932, at which Cowell and Theremin unveiled the rhythmicon. Also featured on that concert were remarkable quartertone piano works by Mildred Couper which unfortunately were overshadowed at the event, as they are in this composition, by the polymetrical pyrotechnics of the rhythmicon. Try playing this at your next dinner party!

—FJO