Translation of the review of “The Test” in „Münchner Merkur“ of May 15, 2004

Meditative Delight

Münchener Biennale: “The Test” by Qu Xiao-song
by Gabriele Luster

After the premiere on Thursday at the Gasteig the Munich Biennale for New Music Theatre can say with good reason: It has achieved its artistic goal – exciting contemporary music theatre.

The title of the chamber opera of the 52 year old composer Qu Xiao-song is “The Test”. It was received enthusiastically by the audience at its first performance on May 13, 2004. Qu, like his compatriot Tan Dun in his Biennale opera “Marco Polo”, combines Far Eastern tradition with Western modernity in a most subtle way. In his 100 minute work instrumentalists of both worlds perform under the precise direction of Rüdiger Bohn. Seven string players are sitting on the stage opposite a mixed percussion group, while the Chinese players of pipa, Chinese flutes, a Sheng (mouth organ) and a Gusheng (a kind of zither) are placed in the orchestra pit. They all get involved in the story, donning white death masks, appearing as skeletons and undertakers. Likewise the conductor, acting as king in the realm of the dead.

Even the language by itself is like music. Add to it the metallic sounds of cymbals, sometimes dry, sometimes muffled, almost stifled, the sounds of drums, of wood blocks, of gongs, or those fragile exotic sounds of wind and plucking instruments. All in all a simple, not so much harmonious as linear music with straightforward rhythmic patterns, frequent repetitions as in minimal music.

This lucidity, however, does not lead to a barrenness, but to a contemplative calm, the aim of which is quiet as a part of sound. The strings, also, fit into this structure, while occasionally they are permitted to blossom melodiously when the singers reveal feelings in the onset of arias. This all fits wonderfully, without any coercion. Familiar and new impressions are combined in a scintillating coexistence.

Qu’s chamber opera, which is based on a classical Chinese legend, fascinates as a listening experience alone, helped not least by the precise musical execution of Rüdiger Bohn and the 14 musicians. Sabrina Hölzer’s concentrated choreography, consistently negating any allusion to realism, the esthetically austere décor by Etienne Pluss, and the skilfully applied lighting effects by Jeannot Bessieres all highten the experience to a truly meditative delight. The reduction to the essential does justice to the music. There are no excesses anywhere, not in the black-and-white of the costumes, broken only by the colourful outfit of the shaman, nor in the stylized gestures, the ritualized dances, or the stage setting.

The mood is melancholy. The questions about true identity, about reality and illusion at the threshold from life to death, lead to a hint of eternal recurrence … In the end the faces of the protagonists disappear behind masks. The slowness, the reduction and the concentration – together with the realization of the futility of love and life – give this Chinese version of “Cosí” its own aura. It draws the listener into a strange and yet familiar world, in which Zhuang-Zhou confesses: “The dream is the awakening, the awakening is the dream”. Qu’s “The Test" is both.