Press Reviews       FREMD Press Reviews of the World Premiere on March 10, 2006     back    Sarah Maria Sun embodies perfectly the role and voice of the legendary princess; the Argonauts are no less convincing an ensemble around Stephan Storck as their imperious leader, Jason, who tries to overcome Medea’s foreignness through a violence of language. Stuttgarter Zeitung Kroesinger’s staging (…) illustrates this lithe music of noise, precisely realized by the Ensemble ascolta under Michael Alber, with timelessly modern psychology. Kroesinger narrates a psychological fantasy between foreignness and fascination, self-alienation and love, resistance and a new departure. As she arranges countless colorful butterflies on the walls in a changing geometry, the formidable Sarah Maria Sun sings these vocalises with virtuosic artistry. (…) The confrontation of mutually alien systems is achieved with musical tension. Thomalla uses the Baroque forms of recitative and da capo arias as an obsessive means of “civilizing.” With a few quotations from Cherubini, the chorus of Argonauts drives Medea out of her security of natural sounds into the subjugation of a powerfully swelling final chorus, which brings in not only instrumentalists but also live electronics. As conducted by Michael Alber, this premiere achieved an extraordinary level. Ludwigsburger Kreiszeitung Nature and culture, noise and sound, high and low, instrumental and vocal, familiar and alienated, individual and collective: these are the poles between which the tension builds up. Most of the sparks are caused by the friction between speaking and singing. Here, on the genuine terrain of music theater, lies the composer’s main interest and the strengths of his work. On the stage, Jason (of the eight basses from the chorus of the Staatsoper Stuttgart who confront these extreme vocal challenges, one stands out: Stephan Storck) and the virtuoso coloratura of Sarah Maria Sun as Media represent the two opposites that attract each other until the man has monopolized the woman for himself; in the music, conducted by Michael Alber, the free, wordless singing of Medea and the rigidly structured actions of Jason and his Argonauts confront each other just like the wide-ranging timbres that the Ensemble ascolta coaxes from its instruments (cello, trombone, piano, percussion, trumpet, and guitar). Stuttgarter Nachrichten The most impressive thing about fremd (strange) is that Thomalla succeeds in capturing the procedural aspect in the “encounter of two worlds” in music: in sounds, noises, singing. (…) The instruments mirror themselves, as it were. It is fascinating to hear the refinement with which Thomalla draws out this soundscape from his small ensemble, including trumpet tenor trombone, violoncello, piano, guitar, and extensive percussion, listening to it and producing it in the same breath. The Ensemble ascolta achieves this with the greatest sensitivity to sound. (…) The soprano Sarah Maria Sun manages her vocal tightrope walk with breathtaking perfection. The dramaturgical and musical realization of fremd did complete justice to the aesthetic ambitions of this complex work. (…) The entrance of the foreigners into Medea’s “space,” where she has decorated the fabric walls with preserved butterflies (nature) is magnificently presented in theatrical terms: Hans-Werner Kroesinger, who also ensures the encounters between Jason and Medea have a great internal tension. In addition to the above-mentioned Sarah Maria Sun, Stephan Storck achieves a psychologically precise study as the leader of the Argonauts. Neue Musik Zeitung Kroesinger’s staging (…) illustrates the graceful structure of this music of noise—precisely performed by the Ensemble ascolta under Michael Alber—with timeless modern psychology. Kroesinger narrates a fantasy of the soul somewhere between strangeness and fascination, self-alienation and love, hostility and a new departure. Südwest Presse
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