Press Reviews       FNM’S FAREWELL CONCERT, FNM & FRIENDS Press Reviews of the FNM’s Farewell Concert on August 1, 2006     back    It is almost as if the wooden halls needed to have their consecration rescinded: Would it not be like breaking the spell (…) if this unique place for creativity were to give way to a more profane or even more conventional use? In a three-part program on Tuesday the crew around Andreas Breitscheid that has run the Forum Neues Musiktheater for the past three years said farewell to its public, which once again turned out in large numbers. And the high point came right at the beginning: a work of musical theater for one performer, about the French philosopher René Descartes. Can his Discours de la méthode be staged, even set to music? Yes, it can, and a place like the Forum seems to be the perfect place to do so. (…) Following two extraordinary pieces at the World New Music Festival, Sarah Maria Sun plays the main role here again. (…) The idea and music were provided by Carl Faia, who operated only in the background in the Forum’s previous productions, has delivered a persuasive work at first go. During the three-year period under Breitscheid the focus, in addition to musical theater, was always on interactive electronics. This aspect was illustrated by a brief duo for trombone and data glove by Marlon Schumacher. Daniel Ploeger filtered timbres out of his trombone that then grew seamlessly into abstract sound shapes in the room. The applause that followed at the end lasted a long time. Stuttgarter Zeitung No location is required in order to be; thinking along defines the human being—that, in essence, is what the French philosopher Descartes wrote. Is there perhaps an extreme irrationalism behind this pure rationalism? This question was explored in the performance Certain chemin by Carl Faia, which introduced the farewell concert for the current leadership team at the Forum Neues Musiktheater. The singer Sarah Maria Sun spoke and sang texts by Descartes; live sounds from the keyboard controlled digitally by the composer and superimpositions from the loudspeakers established the acoustic framework for a play with illusion. (…) Faia’s atmospherically dense mixture of drama, electronics, and intellectual vexation was typical of the program at the Römerkastell, where the personnel and their artistic director, Andreas Breitscheid, are now going off in their own directions after three years working together. Marlon Schumacher’s Rollendinto 1 for solo trombone (Daniel Ploeger) and a so-called data glove (controlled by the composer) that mutates live sounds continued this line. (…) Enthusiastic applause and many bouquets of flowers handed out by Rosa Hoffmann of the LBBW, which generously supported the Forum. Stuttgarter Nachrichten
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