LEIPZIGER BALLETT

Grand Theatre of Liceu.

___ "Die Grosse Messe" is the spiritual keystone of a choreographic undertaking in which Uwe Scholz absorbs the structure of the liturgy of the mass. He adds to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's unfinished Requiem in C minor other works by the same composer, such as the Adagio and Fugue in C minor and the motet Ave verum corpus. He also puts in passages of Gregorian chant, sequences from contemporary music by György Kurtág, Thomas Jahn and Arvo Pärt, and readings of poems by Paul Celan. ___

___ The sung parts of the liturgy of the mass - C minor Requiem and Ave verum corpus - are danced in white robes. The singers' voices and the dancers blend on the stage; Mozart's music becomes a mould in which Scholz casts his choreography. In those parts where the mass is represented by the spoken word, the competition between music and movement persists, even when their respective roles are reversed. In the "Adagio" and "Fugue", Scholz twists back the choreography and interrupts the flow of movement. Exhausted, the dancers have to stop. But they are released time and again, they breathe in deeply and recover their strength during the sections of Mozart's Requiem. Thus even the end of the world, in Arvo Pärt's Credo, is not the end, for it is the Agnus Dei that brings the mass to a close. A truly impressive requiem; a choreographic revelation. ___

http://www.barceloca.com, Grand Theatre of Liceu, June 28, 2004