Barbara Buchholz

MOONSTRUCK, new CD of Barbara Buchholz in collaboration with Jan Bang, Tilmann Dehnhard, Ulrike Haage, Arve Henriksen, Alejandro Govea Zappino, Kammerflimmer Kollektief, Jan Krause, Susanna and the Magical Orchestra will be published by INTUITION in june 2008.
Foto: Volker Beushausen

Barbara Buchholz first made her name as a Jazz bass player, before discovering the Theremin and studying under Lydia Kavina in Moscow.
"I first saw a Theremin at the beginning of the 90s, when I saw Lydia perform Tom Waits Alice, explains Barbara Buchholz. This sound burned itself into my brain, but I was not in a position to create it at that time. There were no Theremins on the market, and I had no idea how I could get one or learn how to play it. But then I met Lydia Kavina. It became clear that I would have to go to Moscow and get intensively involved in the instrument. Playing the Theremin bundles all of my musical experiences. I wasnt just a bass player, but sang and studied the flute. The Theremin is a pool in which all of that can be found.

With the bass I have an earthier feeling, but one is still grounded with the Theremin. I am fascinated by the complete concentration required to play the Theremin. You cant intone with the instrument unless fully immerse yourself in it. You have to be inside the sound the entire time.
To me it is a completely contemporary instrument. You feel the electronics, but see the person behind it. In light of the high technical standards of the 90s, I find it exciting and absolutely refreshing. That you can now have electronic music and human charm in one."

The title of the first cd Theremin: Russia With Love (INTUITION), of course, draws an association to the James Bond film with almost the same title. But Barbara Buchholz breaks away from the romanticism of the Cold War and brings it into the present.
"My trips to Russia were necessary in order to get back to the roots and to explore the roots of the instrument. I got to know a lot of artists with who I work and will continue to work. I have never experienced another country with so many dichotomies. There is no middle ground in Russia. There are the poor and the rich, melancholy and punk, the dissonant and the beautiful. Nothing in between. My music is an echo of this time. Snapshots of various moods. The album was supposed to be more contradictory in the beginning, placing Punk next to the melodic side. We recorded wild noise improvisation, which in the end werent used."

A second theremin- CD is actually published by WERGO. Touch! Dont Touch!, contemporary compositions for Theremin and chamber-ensemble. Lydia Kavina: Theremin / Barbara Buchholz: Theremin / Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin
Composer: Olga Bochihina - Moritz Eggert - Michael Hirsch - Juliane Klein - Vladimir Nikolaev - Nicolaus Richter de Vroe - Caspar Johannes Walter - Iraida Yusupova
On Touch! Dont Touch! Lydia Kavina and Barbara Buchholz pick up the thread of theremin history with new compositions. Eight German and Russian composers were commissioned to write pieces for two theremins and instrumental ensemble. They followed the maxim that there should be no limits to the sound; everything should be possible. Fotos: Lena Obst