Atlantis

for theremin and amplified classical guitar played with slide bar (2007)

duration: 7′

Video conceived, filmed and edited by Lothar Osterburg
Elizabeth Brown, theremin; Ben Verdery, amplified classical guitar (guitar by Gary Lee), played with slide bar

 

Performed by Elizabeth Brown, theremin; Ben Verdery, amplified classical guitar (guitar by Gary Lee), played with slide bar.
Recorded on Elizabeth Brown: Mirage (New World 80751)

 


Premiere performance, Yale School of Music summer program at Norfolk, 2007


program note

Atlantis (2007) for theremin and amplified classical guitar, was written for guitarist Ben Verdery, with whom I performed the premiere on June 16th, 2007, at the Yale Summer School of Music in Norfolk. To write this piece, I borrowed a guitar and played it so much that I blistered all my fingers. While I waited for them to heal, I experimented with using a metal slide on the fingerboard, and fell in love with the underwater sound created when the slide constantly wobbled a little bit. It reminded me of my artist husband Lothar’s ongoing quest to find Atlantis, and also brought the guitar into the theremin’s sound world.