Purists however and others like me will howl at the liberties Scherzer

Purists, however, and others like me, will howl at the liberties Scherzer has taken, chopping about, adding repetitions, inserting sections of silence and percussion.On the other hand, there were times when – in brutal honesty – I really did want to close my eyes; not to escape the dancers, but the concept. It’s not Scherzer’s slightly clich?expressionist language, oscillating between rough-hewn modern dance and pared-down ballet. Or her organisation of space – the groupings are in fact highly theatrical. Neither is it Brigitte Benner’s austere set, transforming the stage into a narrow room and ramp that intermittently becomes a slatted stairway for Death’s descent.Rather, it’s that Scherzer piles on the metaphors, dualities and ambiguities, producing a chaotic tangle of associations and weakly identified characters. Not content with linking man and Mozart into single individuals, Scherzer occasionally blends in Christ as well.

And while modishly modern props such as shoes and suitcases suggested a life’s journey clearly enough, the manner in which they are incorporated into the choreography often seems entirely meaningless.At first I struggled to devise some thematic scheme, but after a while I gave up. Later I discovered in the programme synopsis that I had been on completely the wrong track Perhaps what this piece demands is a second viewing. After the final image of a flame snuffed out – Mozart, man, whatever – the people round me started talking They were highly puzzled. But they were also intrigued and moved, and that’s already something.

To Saturday (0113 222 6222); then on tour to Edinburgh (25 Feb to 1 Mar) and Norwich (6-10 May). On 10 September 1981 a stout crate, simply labelled “Large Painting”, arrived in Madrid on an Iberia flight from New York. Inside, wrapped round a padded wooden drum, was Picasso’s Guernica. Total secrecy had accompanied its arrival, but by the time it reached the Prado helicopters hovered overhead and a crowd had gathered. After 44 years, this savage indictment of brutality – commissioned by the Spanish government, inspired by the bombing of a historic Basque town in the Civil War and produced in Paris – had come home. As the crate disappeared inside, onlookers broke into applause.