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Invented in 1919 in Russia by Lev Sergeivitch Termen, the Theremin was not only the first electronic musical instrument, but also the first (and still the only) instrument played without touching it by moving the hands in the space between two antennae, one of which controls intonation and the other the volume.
The intuition of Termen, who is better known as Léon Theremin (the French version of his name), marked a fundamental step in the history of music and gave the world a means of expression clearly prefiguring the electronic imagination and tension towards the immaterial that has characterised much of the artistic and philosophical thought of recent years. The Theremin was the technological fruit of the same cultural ferment that was to lead the Italian futurists to adopt the scientific and technological acquisitions of quantum physics and radiophony in their aeropoetry, aeropainting, aeromusic and radiophonic art, making them the basis of a poetry of dematerialisation - the coincidence of subject and object, spirit and matter. However, being still tied to what was already the obsolete mechanical dimension of the intonarumori of Luigi Russolo, what the futurists lacked was an instrument like the Theremin.
More than anything else, the Theremin is a real musical instrument, a powerful expressive means that demands great virtuosity in order to unveil the extraordinary beauty underlying its power. It is a virtuosity which, more than any other poetical or philosophical suggestion, brings us back to the ineluctable physical nature of our being: a physical quality that is more present and spectacular in the Theremin than in any other instrument, as is demonstrated by the extraordinarily beautiful and suggestive movements of the hands and arms of Lydia Kavina.
Lydia Kavina is universally recognised as being the greatest virtuoso of the Theremin in the world. The niece of one of Lev Termen's first-degree cousins, Lydia began studying the Theremin under the direction of Termen himself when she was nine years old. Five years later, she was ready to give her first Theremin concert, which marked the beginning of a musical career that has so far led to more than 500 theatre, radio and television performances throughout the world.
In addition to giving concerts, Lydia is a composer of music for the Theremin (three of her works can be heard on this disc) and teaches the instrument in Russia, the United States and Western Europe.
Together with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, she participated in creating the sound track of the Oscar-winning film "Ed Wood".
In 1999 has been published Lydia's first disc entitled "Music from the Ether".
Theremin & Lydia Kavina
Tracks
Author: Claude Debussy
Performed by: Lydia Kavina, Mauro Cavalieri D'Oro
Author: Sergej Rachmaninov
Performed by: Lydia Kavina, Mauro Cavalieri D'Oro
Author: Sergej Rachmaninov
Performed by: Lydia Kavina, Mauro Cavalieri D'Oro
Author: Jerome Kern
Performed by: Lydia Kavina, Mauro Cavalieri D'Oro
Author: Alexander Alabiev
Performed by: Lydia Kavina, Mauro Cavalieri D'Oro
Author: Johann Sebastian Bach
Performed by: Lydia Kavina, Columbus Orchestra
Author: Antonin Dvorâk
Performed by: Lydia Kavina, Columbus Orchestra
Author: George Gershwin
Performed by: Lydia Kavina, Columbus Orchestra
Author: Charles Paul
Performed by: Lydia Kavina, Mauro Cavalieri D'Oro
Author: Charles Paul
Performed by: Lydia Kavina, Mauro Cavalieri D'Oro
Author: Lydia Kavina
Performed by: Lydia Kavina, Columbus Orchestra
Author: Lydia Kavina
Performed by: Lydia Kavina, Columbus Orchestra
Author: Lydia Kavina
Performed by: Lydia KavinaCover Art
External links