Press Reviews       IL CIELO SULLA TERRA Press Reviews of the World Premiere on June 1, 2006     back    This music is full of atmosphere, and besides it is fun to watch how Scodanibbio composes sounds and structures from Miles Davis, Pink Floyd, or Tangerine Dream; (…) Jörg Behr and filmmaker Claudius Brodmann provide a strong lead-in: points of light rise, like a starry sky, on two semitransparent backdrops staggered one behind the other and grow larger until suddenly faces and scenes become recognizable in the circles of light: a speaker, demonstrations, the text “Radio Alice,” the radio station of student revolt. (…) With simple means Jörg Behr has told a story of innocence, alienation, and rebellion, thereby drawing a scene close to the intellectual core of the music. (…) The Staatsoper Stuttgart children’s choir performed with admirable theatrical engagement; the instrumental ensemble was conducted by Scodanibbio himself and consequently realized the multifarious idiomatic levels of the music with incontrovertible authenticity. Thus this production also radiated an unconditionality and professionalism of artistic intention that manifests itself not in the finished product but in the precision of experimentation—and that is typical of the Forum Neues Musiktheater (…). With the end of Klaus Zehelein’s directorship a concept worthy of preservation loses its theater and partner—hopefully finding a home elsewhere. If a new framework for this model of experimental work on music theater or for those that are making it happen cannot be found, the shortcomings of the German theater scene, which so readily prides itself—and with good reason—on its artistic wealth, would indeed be revealed. Die Deutsche Bühne At the moment of the crash, the curtain and scenery are pulled to the floor revealing Scodanibbio and his ten superb musicians. Stage designer Gianni Dessi and stage director Jörg Behr have worked toward this moment: the instrumental action forms the center of Scodanibbio’s music theater. “When art, as independent entity, paints its world in glowing colors, one of life’s moments has become old, and life cannot be rejuvenated with glowing colors but rather can only be evoked in memory.” Music also acts following this motto, which is one of many quotations to waft down to the listener during the final scene (“L’arte nella vita”). Scodanibbio’s score is of an enormously illustrative coloration that intensifies to an ecstatic joy of performing. (…) The Forum Neues Musiktheater enjoyed a premiere spectacularly rich in imagery. Cannstatter Zeitung Scodanibbio’s associative image sequence begins with a disturbingly beautiful cloud of sounds consisting of strings amongst double bass rumblings and chirpings and extrasensory vocal harmonics, during which small suns emerge on a gauze curtain. A new start in the morning (…). Much applause for a music theater full of children but by no means childish. Südwest Presse There were, for example, two videos (Claudius Brodmann) that filled the stage: highly poetic, imaginative variations on the theme of rapture. Decidedly the most beautiful scene, however, was the one titled Amore: two dancers (Alexandra Gilbert, Damien Jalet) allowed their bodies to literally merge with each other—something that demands acrobatic control of the body. (…) The instrumental parts are strong, especially in the last scene, during which all action on the stage suddenly comes to a stop and the drop scenes come down; the ten instrumentalists appear as the sole actors—among which special mention must be made of the magnificent pianist, Fabrizio Ottaviucci. Indeed, his playing and the very strong scenic ideas (Gianni Dessi) make the visit to the Römerkastell in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt worthwhile. Stuttgarter Nachrichten Were the Forum Neues Musiktheater not to exist already, it would have to be invented. The variety of what is performed here can be reduced only indirectly to a common denominator—as projects that seek to convey more in the interaction of different arts than would be possible with purely instrumental music. In Stefano Scodanibbio’s Cielo sulla terra fifteen children and a two dancers perform between one transparent and one opaque screen, behind which the ensemble is concealed. The much discussed philosopher Giorgio Agamben and artist Gianni Dessi collaborated on the concept, which concerns itself with the utopias that preoccupied people’s minds into the 1970s—when Scodanibbio was studying in Pesaro—and what ultimately came of these utopias. (…) Alexandra Gilbert and Damien Jalet form a single dancing figure, like a lotus blossom or a four-armed, four-legged Shiva. The choreography and the superb dance performance never allow this production to become dull. It gradually segues to an undulating Tangerine Dream bass and flute sound from the band and becomes a dance of letters on the screen. The sentences that assemble and then dissolve symbolize the ecstasy that leads to an impasse. What a relief when the curtains then fall down to reveal the ensemble, and the complex brilliantly performed music itself takes the stage. Stuttgarter Zeitung A the end one of the children quotes a slogan from the student movement, “Under the paving stones, the beach,” and a second child asks “what is that supposed to mean?”—this sums up the problem of this evening rich in remarkable images and sounds. But that is also the essence of this forum: to be a laboratory for new forms—and in the process outcomes also resulted that contained new and fascinating things for the spectator. It would be a true loss if this laboratory were not permitted to continue its work. SWR
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