Die Ursonate by Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948) is a masterpiece of pre-war phonetic poetry; a poem in which language, the word, is reduced to its smallest component, namely the phoneme.
Phonemes and syllables form a meccano of musical motifs and themes that are rhythmically worked, repeated and varied, just as in a classical sonata structure. But more than just a Dadaist plaything, an abstract formalism or an unintelligible language system, is Die Ursonate a primal language that expresses primary emotions through vocal gestures.
The talented young vocalist Bénédicte Davin studied chamber music at the Conservatory of Liège with Jean-Pierre Peuvion, Judith Vindevogel and François Deppe. Like Récitations by Georges Aperghis with which she already made herself noticed during the PHOENIX FESTIVAL 1999, is Die Ursonate by Schwitters a theatrical score that highlights her comic talent and her many opportunities for expression.
Review
'Something like minimal music unfolds in phonemes. Lightning-fast and crystal-clear, Davin rushes through vowels and consonants. She juggles asthmatic screeching inhalations, dangerously rolling r's, piercing t's. In the Scherzo, she buzzes, roars, chirps and growls like crazy within the unrelenting sonata structure. Count by count, she plays the overwhelming emotions she is above at that moment. Deftly she arranges escaping bra straps at the grotesque dance, which on the other hand reveals thick stockings in black shoes. Though anything but humourless, the leaden nature of her act remains bloodcurdling. Snorting chuckles from the audience can hardly be placed, unless it had to be from nerves. Because even the drollly depicted disorientation at the end - while reciting the alphabet - is heartbreaking.'
Margaretha Coornstra, Zwolse Courant
