„I believe that at least a third of the repertoire should feature contemporary
music or contemporary artists. I simply found it important that someone would
start to compose for ballet again.“ Thanks to this credo of Martin Schläpfer –
chief choreographer and artistic director at Ballett am Rhein Duesseldorf Duisburg –
the world of dance got a grandiose contemporary masterpiece: DEEP FIELD, Zehn
KLANGbelichtungen einer METAmorphose (ten SOUNDilluminations of a
METAmorphosis), music by Adriana Hölszky, choreography by Martin Schläpfer,
media-light-sculpture and costumes by rosalie.
In 2014, this composition commissioned for the Ballett am Rhein became a
theatrical event of a kind only rarely experienced in German dance. Apart from
members of the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker and various guest musicians, it also
featured the WDR Rundfunkchor Köln, one of the most notable German vocal
ensembles, who are extremely familiar with performing contemporary works.
DEEP FIELD presents a congenial encounter between New Music and
contemporary ballet. The choreographer and composer seem connected like
soulmates, as both Hölszky's compositions and Schläpfer's choreography
operate as seismographs listening into our times while being almost
defenselessly exposed to their contradictions and perils. The composer's
sound world opens and displays nearly infinite spaces, colours and nuances
for stage and dance; the choreography embodies and deepens this aural
cosmos through to the most delicate threads of dance movement – a musicality
that can be physically felt and is conveyed with utter immediacy, which is also
due to the striking technique and intensity of the 42 dancers of
the Ballett am Rhein. Here, all members of the ensemble also have to be solo
performers, by contract and on stage, and they shine in virtuoso solo, duo
and trio performances as well as in those „fragment layerings“ so typical for
Schläpfer's choreographic style. It is fascinating to watch them perform as a
homogenous, expressive group in ensemble scenes between trance and
dream – with archaic force and stillness.
When DEEP FIELD was presented at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in eight
performances on the stage of the Opernhaus Düsseldorf, everybody was
aware that this long ballet with its many live musicians and guest performers
was unlikely to be repeated or revisited, as this would demand too great an
overall effort. Our live recording from June 19th 2014 is the only
comprehensive document of this unique gesamtkunstwerk. Its extraordinary
artistic quality, concentration and attraction demonstrate how intense, stirring
and brilliant contemporary dance can be.