These two works by German composer
Hans Zender could loosely be described as song cycles. The first, "Cabaret Voltaire," comes closer to fitting the definition. Written for soprano and eight instruments, it uses texts consisting entirely of nonsense syllables by the early twentieth century German writer and performer Hugo Ball, who founded the nightclub Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich in 1916, which was seminal in bringing together the creators of Dadaism. Since the texts have no semantic meaning,
Zender gives each song structure an emotional center by linking it to the situation in Ball's life at the time he wrote the text. Like more traditional cabaret songs, each of the six songs has a highly distinctive and memorable character, some humorous and some surprisingly poignant. While he is by no means writing in a bel canto style,
Zender's use of the voice is expressive and mostly lyrical; the eccentrically gyrating vocal line of the third song, "Totenklage," is particularly effective and memorable. (Talking Heads used one of these Ball texts, to a very different effect, on their 1979 album Fear of Music.) "Mnemosyne -- Hölderlin lesen IV," for female voice, string quartet, and live electronics uses texts by the Romantic poet Friedrich Hölderlin, but its three movements seem more like abstract soundscapes with a vocal component (written largely as Sprechstimme) than actual songs. Soprano
Salome Kammer brings great tonal beauty and force to "Cabaret Voltaire" and dramatic intensity to "Mnemosyne."
Klangforum Wein, conducted by the composer, plays with passion and precision, making even the most abstract moments emotionally gripping.