DSCH • CPH STAGE
★★★★★☆
Photo: Magnus Skrede
REVIEW DSCH: A SENSORY BOMBARDMENT OF SHOSTAKOVICH
The theatrical concert DSCH, which has been performed twice at the Royal Theatre’s Old Stage as part of CPH Stage, is a visual and musical bombardment of gems from Shostakovich’s treasure chest.
Photo: Magnus Skrede
The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra has kicked aside the music stands and plays its way freely into the composer’s universe with a physical, choreographed presence. The 16 musicians move through shifting tableaux, bathed in tasteful lighting design and surrounded by imaginative video animations that envelop the entire space.
Swirls of cloud formations, modern graphics, moons, undulating water. A graphic kaleidoscope that is not merely decoration, but plays an active role as a visual artistic staging of the music and a kind of guide for your associations.
Shostakovich’s music ranges from the angular and almost atonal to the suddenly lyrical, with advanced yet captivating swathes of ambient soundscapes.
Photo: Magnus Skrede
The concert is structured as a series of shorter interludes, amounting to a dozen or so pieces, where some elements sound familiar and others unfamiliar. Yet the whole works: a dynamic flow that makes the 90 minutes feel alive and surprisingly accessible.
Pekka Kuusisto stands as the charismatic frontman, whilst Bjarke Mogensen provides a whimsical shadow to the composer, acting as a sort of alter ego. Together, they lift the work away from the traditional concert format and into a more playful, theatrical space – without it feeling contrived.
Photo: Magnus Skrede
It is not the biography that takes centre stage, but the energy: the irony, the resistance, the vitality. Shostakovich’s signature motif – D-Es-C-H – appears as a quiet reminder that the composer is constantly writing himself into the music.
Photo: Magnus Skrede
One can easily imagine the format being applied to other composers. Here, it works. Concept and music merge, and one leaves the Royal Theatre’s Old Stage in a quiet, melancholic mood after a truly beautiful total theatre experience that appeals to a wide audience – a completely original production that can also be enjoyed by audiences without a background in classical music. Five stars from GOT TO SEE THIS
