Variationen über die Liebe

When a composer like Enjott Schneider gets down to collecting original texts from lonely hearts columns and setting them to music in their original wording in an entirely unadorned way, irony, mockery and humour are inevitable. This can be experienced in Schneider's 10-minute four-part cycle 'Variationen über die Liebe' for five-part mixed choir (SMezATB) and piano, a masterful musical caricature of ordinary, banal platitudes. One of the work's highlights certainly is the rousing 'Tango delle abbreviature' which consists mainly of abbreviations. The four rhythmically and harmonically highly demanding miniatures, which demand all kinds of vocal techniques from the singers, are rather destined for professional vocal ensembles.