Also Yann Tiersen, well known for writing the music to the film Amélie, often features the use of the ondes Martenot in his music.
Ondes Martenot | Ginette Martenot | ondes Martenot | Maurice Martenot | Saint-Méloir-des-Ondes |
For more romantic moods, it features the ondes Martenot, an early electronic instrument, played by its most prominent soloist, Jeanne Loriod.
In 1928, Maurice Martenot invented the Ondes Martenot, featuring a keyboard which can be laterally rocked back and forth—inspired by his experience as a cellist.
Like its contemporaries, the Theremin, the Ondes Martenot and the Trautonium, the Novachord can be heard occasionally in horror and science fiction film scores including many genre films from Universal Studios and James Bernard's ethereal music for Hammer's The Gorgon (1964).
The music is arranged from an earlier, unpublished piece, "Oraison" from "Fêtes des belles eaux" for 6 Ondes Martenots, performed at the Paris World Fair in 1937.
The score features a number of unusual instruments including ondes Martenot, Cristal Baschet and Glass Harmonica played by French virtuoso musician Thomas Bloch plus a twelve piece choir, live string section, piano, guitars and basses often heavily treated and manipulated with electronic effects.
His orchestral tone poem "Le chant de Dahut" for ondes Martenot and Orchestra won the SACEM prize at the 1988 Festival des tombées de la nuit, in Rennes (France).
She performed all of Messiaen's works for ondes Martenot, most notably the Turangalîla-Symphonie, which she recorded six times.
He also was responsible for teaching the first generation of ondes Martenot performers, including Karel Goeyvaerts, Jeanne Loriod, Georges Savaria, Gilles Tremblay, and his sister Ginette Martenot.
The work was premiered during the Concerts de la Pléiade at the Ancien Conservatoire on April 21, 1945, by Ginette Martenot (ondes Martenot), Yvonne Loriod (piano), the Yvonne Gouverné Chorale, and the Orchestra of the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, under the direction of Roger Désormière.