Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

Your reviewer has often been quick to point out that filmed concerts can be a little dull to watch with camera angles being so limited. Occasionally we are taken on a tour of the venue but more often than not all we see are faces, which does little to encourage repeated viewings. Not here. The German choreographer Uwe Scholz (1958-2004) has taken Mozart's Great Mass in C minor (K427), thrown in several other musical pieces along with some poems by Paul Celan (1920-1970), and used it as the score for a ballet. Whenever ballet is mentioned it is my habit to make my excuses and leave but I thought that here I would at least listen to the music. My research tells me that Scholz was, until his death, Artistic Director of Leipzig Ballet where he followed neo-classical directions in his choreography and tried to integrate not only music and texts but all aspects of the performance, including lighting, costumes and staging. My daughter, who is much more knowledgeable about dance than I, summed up this production as "amazing" and I would not want to disagree. But before my ignorance becomes even more apparent, we will move on to the music. Although Mozart dominates the proceedings we are also given examples of Gregorian chant and contemporary works by György Kurtág and Arvo Part and, somehow or other, they all fit together. I found Celan's poems to be challenging but once I discovered that he was a German-speaking Romanian Jew whose parents were murdered in Auschwitz I began to understand his anger. I hope that I have not given the impression that watching - and listening - to this was hard work as it was not. The music is beautiful and we tip our hat to the Chorus of the Leipzig Opera and also all four soloists, but especially the soprano Eunyee You. If you are going to buy just one DVD of a Mass used as the basis of a ballet then we think it should be this one.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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