Ribac/Schwabe/Stein
M.I.H.A Opera

	1. I Am I 2. Here And There 3. The Wild Woods 4. Die Landfrau 5. Do Vipers Sting Do Vipers Bite 6. Doctor Faustus At Home 7. In The City 8. How Do You Know 9. The Saint 10. They Come From Everywhere 11. Intermezzo 12. She's All My Love (Tango) 13. You Do Or You Do Not (Waltz) 14. Sailor's Song 15. Mr. Viper 16. Faust And Mephisto 17. I Can Be Everything
order	nml 9319 CD 1993 57'22

The Marguerite Ida & Helena Annabel Opera is based in the Gertrude Stein text "Doctor Faustus Lights The Lights". Eva Schwabe has taken multiple characters out of the libretto and developped a one-woman-show. She is both "Marguerite", virgin with blond plaits, bitten by a viper, and "Ida, the mechanic who becomes a saint after Doctor Faustus has saved her; she's "Helena", not in love with the frustrated Faustus, but a sailor, and "Annabel" -it was for her that Faustus has killed and achieved eternal youth, but without winning her love; and she is both Doctor Faustus and Mephisto. Francois Ribac has composed a musical score for this: classical strings cover Marguerite; brass music welcomes Helena, hot tangos sound for the whore, and dark chorals accompany the fall of Doctor Faustus. An all-mixed-up opera with no action, but full of visions and allegorical pictures.

"Clear expressed themes demand diffizile moods and wild tunes to duel with. There are no poetic or playful boundaries set. By demolishing conventional standards the music grows into a gigantic performance which claims intelligence. "
Rainer Guerich / Saarlouiser Rundschau

"The singer and actor Eva Schwabe is Marguerite Ida and Helena Annabel, Mephisto and Doctor Faustus all in one. Sometimes passionate in love or shouting for truth in the human dessert invaded by vipers ... The sentimental "Marguerite Ida & Helena Annabel Opera" remains one of Brecht's work - melancholic vocal theatre."
Anna-Bianca Krause / TIP Berlin

"By putting a Faust text (by Gertrude Stein) into a musical arrangement, the avantgarde label "No Man's Land" started an adventure into the field of music theatre ... Ribac (Boulez - student) used mainly jazz sounds, tango variations or classical patterns to create his musical collage work."
Stefan A. Dudek / Allgemeine Zeitung

"The result was an fascinating collage consisting of recitative, ambiguous and stratified musical pieces. Ribac uses elements out of the modern classic, he is influenced by jazz and experiments with different stylish elements ... and most importent is the touching voice of the great Eva Schwabe." Wolfgang Klebe / Indigo Notes