John Storgårds opened his BBC Philharmonic Prom with the London premiere of Finnish composer Kalevi Aho’s flawed yet fascinating Eight Seasons, a concerto for theremin and orchestra, played by Carolina Eyck, for whom it was written, and who gave the world premiere with the Lapland Chamber Orchestra, and Storgårds again, in 2012.
Invented in 1919 by the Russian physicist Léon Theremin, the electronic instrument that takes his name has long been associated with film and pop music, less so with the classical repertory until Eyck’s exploration and advocacy of its possibilities. For Aho, as for others, it’s also associated with magic: the player never touches the instrument, but instead produces its unearthly wailing sound by means of hand gestures in multiple electromagnetic fields. Eyck, swathed in midnight blue robes, looked like a pagan priestess, conjuring music out of the air.
