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Traditional Christmas Music for Glass Armonica

E. A. Lovitt | Gladwin, MI USA | 12/24/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

""When Dr. Ben Franklin invented the glass armon he concealed it from his wife 'till the instrument was fit to play; and then woke her with it one night, when she took it for the music of angels."
- Leigh Hunt [1784-1858], Autobiography, 1850, "Musical Memories"You may have heard Dean Shostak playing the glass armonica in Colonial Willimsburg, or on All Things Considered on NPR. If not, this recording gives you a chance to hear Christmas carols very eerily and beautifully played on this old American instrument. "The glass armonica was invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1761. It consists of glass bowls tuned by size, mounted one inside each other with cork on a metal spindle. The glasses are made to spin with a flywheel attached to a foot treadle. Moistened fingers rub the exposed rims of the glasses to produce"...some very unique and beautiful sounds. According to Dean Shostak's web page, he added the flywheel to the instrument to make it even more playable.The glass armonica is accompanied by violin, piano, harp, and cello on this recording, and Ben Franklin's wife was right: it does sound like the music of angels."