Next to the quintets of Brahms and Mozart, the clarinet quintet by Max Reger is one of the "war horses" for each clarinet player. Reger had a very prominent female composer student, Johanna Senfter, who was only discovered in the early 21st century. In a WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING her Clarinet Quintet shows, what a talent and professionality she developped.

Anca Vasile Caraman was born in Romania and began studying the violin at the age of 4 in her hometown with Prof. Mioara Prisada and Alexandru Piculeata. Afterwards, she attended “George Enescu” Music High School in Bucarest with Prof. Olivia Papa, Cornel Micut and Valeriu Rogacev, since 1998, the National Music University in Bucarest with Prof. Octavian Ratiu, where she graduated in 2005. In 2006, she started her Advanced Specialization study course in Violin at Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, studying with Domenico Nordio and subsequently graduating in 2009. She won 9 national prizes in Romania and 3 international prizes, the last of which won in soloist category “Rovere d’Oro 2010”. Caraman also succeeded in important international competitions such as the “Queen Elisabeth” in Brussels and the “Violin Masters” in Montecarlo and she has played as a soloist with the national orchestras of Bucharest, Ramnicu Valcea, Galati, Pitesti, Brescia. She also took part has participated in various masterclasses of violinists: Yuri Torcinsky, Mark Lubovsky, Nabueko Aseada, Giulio Franzetti, Kim Nam Num, Yvry Gitlis, Stefan Gheorghiu, Helena Bondarenko and Umberto Benedetti Michelangeli. From 2012-2018 he taught preparatory violin at the Brescia and Darfo Conservatory. He has performed concert activities in a number of productions in Italy and Romania, as well as in France, Moldova, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Japan, China, the Netherlands, Belgium and England. She currently cooperates with the pianist Enrico Pompili with whom she recorded two CDs, presenting music works by Alberto Bonera; she also plays with various chamber ensembles. In September 2018 a selection of operatic transcriptions by Antonio Bazzini, a composer from Brescia, was released with the magazine “Amadeus”, and in November of the same year the complete works in 5 CDs for “Brilliant Classics” where she performed together with the pianist Alessandro Trebeschi. For the publishing house Aldebaran she also supervised the publication of the first volume (out of four) including the arrangements of the works by A. Bazzini. In 2019 the record company BAM published Vivaldi and Piazzolla Eight Seasons, recorded in Brescia where she performed together with Bazzini Consort. In 2021 for “Stradivarius” label was released the CD with 24 Caprices of N. Paganini, the 6 Sonatas and Partitas of J.S. Bach and the 6 Sonatas for solo violin op.27 of E. Ysaye. He is pursuing a research doctorate with the theme “Violin in the works for violin by composer Max Reger, in Musical Interpretation at the National University of Music in Bucharest (Romania) under the guidance of prof.dr.univ. Șerban Dimitrie Soreanu. From 2022 he began the conducting course, as an auditor, in the class of Maestro Gilberto Serembe at The Italian Conducting Academy.

Vinyl Version – The only LIVE recording of this colossal piece of the German composer Max Reger. The Piano Concerto is a fairly special pieces: very heavy, very long, very difficult, it requires a permanent and nonstop action of the soloist

The German tenor, Markus Schäfer, studied with Marga Plachner, Armand McLane and Evelyn Dalberg. Following his attendance at the Opera Studio in Zürich, Markus Schäfer's first professional engagement was at the Opernhaus Zürich in 1985. Since then guest appearances have take Markus Schäfer to many a prestigious musical location - the Salzburger Festpiele, the Rossini Festival in Pesaro, La Fenice in Venice, Liceo in Barcelona and the State Opera on Munich, to name but a few. He has undertaken principal roles in various operas by W.A. Mozart, Monteverdi, Alessandro Scarlatti, Johann Adolf Hasse and Rolle. He worked closely with René Jacobs and the Concerto Köln at the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden, on Cosi fan tutte, and Krösus by Reinhard Keiser.

REGER Symphonic Fantasia and Fugue, op. 57, “Inferno.” Pieces for Organ, op. 145 • Edgar Krapp (org) • NAXOS 8.557891 (69:09)


The Symphonic Fantasia and Fugue opens with a violent fury, building to a quick climax, punctuated by chords and keyboard runs before diminishing into a calm meditation—all within the first minute. Throughout this 10-minute Fantasia, the music swells and diminishes, from climax to serenity. Edgar Krapp brings this off superbly. Max Reger considered his op. 57 the most difficult music he ever wrote, but Krapp never breaks a sweat. He has mastered this music and knows every nuance. He lets all the stops out in the Passau Cathedral in Eisenbarth, Germany, making no apologies for the intensity or force of the music. At times he seems carried away in a kind of divine madness, reveling in every decibel. The effect is exciting and dramatic. But the Fugue has a different character, and is not as successful, hampered by Reger’s penchant for thick writing. In the Fantasia (and throughout most of this recording), the sound captured by the Naxos engineers is vivid, clear, and even spectacular. But the Fugue is a little muddled. Yet every climax is captured superbly; Reger—and Krapp—emerge in triumph as if through the clouds. This is a mighty work that deserves to be heard more often.


Reger wrote his seven organ pieces in 1915–16, in the midst of World War I. These pieces are dedicated to key moments in the liturgical year; yet the war clearly lingered in Reger’s mind as he wrote. One senses sadness during the first piece, which was dedicated to those who died in battle. The second piece is a psalm of thanks, titled, “What God does, that is well done.” Dedicated to the German people, this too has dark moments and builds to a treatment of the familiar hymn, Praise to the Lord the Almighty . As this title indicates, there is a sense of recognition of God’s sovereignty at a time of war. But even in moments of triumph, there is a haunting touch of uncertainty. This is great music.


The piece focuses on Christmas, and Reger incorporates familiar choruses, including Silent Night . This, too, has a dark hue; everything is not quite so “calm and bright.” The fourth part focuses on the passion of Christ. The fifth celebrates his resurrection with a form much more like a chorale. The sixth celebrates the Holy Ghost. Fleet keyboard runs are woven into a strong, declaratory conclusion. The seventh is a victory celebration, highlighted by Reger’s adaptation of the hymn, Now thank we all our God (with Deutschland, Deutschland über alles ringing in the pedals). Some may feel that this uncomfortably mixes politics with music, but this did not bother me, and I found it to be stirring music, and highly enjoyable.


This is Volume 7 in the Naxos collection of the organ music of Reger, and the first that features Krapp. All of the recordings in this series that I have heard have been outstanding. This one is too. Highly recommended.


FANFARE: John E. Roos

Recorded in November 2016 at the Cathedral of San Lorenzo in the Umbrian city of Perugia, the latest Brilliant Classics album from Adriano Falcioni has an especially personal impulse behind it. He decided to record the first two sonatas of Max Reger after receiving the approval of the composer’s granddaughter, who happened to attend one of his recitals.

Like many organists before him, looking for repertoire which would stretch his skills to the utmost, he came across the Second Sonata as a student: ‘it made me fall in love with his music,’ says Falcioni. ‘Moreover, it has been essential to my development as an organist.’

Indeed the recording serves as an ideal introduction to a body of work which still has a forbidding aspect to many listeners. Outside Germany, Reger is still underappreciated for the density of his counterpoint and the richness of his harmonic language, which could hardly exist without Wagner and yet places itself at a distance from the erotic aspect of the operas, while also pursuing a path distinct from his Modernist contemporaries. The Fantasy and Fugue on B-A-C-H is one of Reger’s most accomplished and dramatic homages to the composer he loved above all others. The First Sonata concludes with an extended Passacaglia – one of several in the composer’s output which inevitably recalls the great C minor Passacaglia of the young Bach. But it is the Second Sonata in which the mastery of Reger’s mature style is most persuasively evident, from the striking gestures of the opening Improvisation, through the gentle solemnity of the Invocation to the taut and thrilling progress of the concluding Fugue.

The album complements the organist’s well-received recordings of late 19th-century organ music for Brilliant Classics, among them the complete organ sonatas of Guilmant (BC94227) and the complete organ music of Franck (BC94349).

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.



REGER Fantasy and Fugues: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme; Wie schön leucht uns der Morgenstern. Chorale Preludes: Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland; Lobt Gott, ihr Christen alle gleich; Nun freut euch, liebe Christen; Vom Himmel hoch. Kyrie eleison. Gloria in excelsis Deo . Benedictus. Ave Maria. Pastorale. Weihnachten • Harald Feller (org) • OEHMS 644 (77:37)


By the quantity of his output—some 147 opus numbers, some containing more than 50 individual movements—one would hardly assume that Max Reger lived for only the short span of 43 years. Considering the amount of notes per piece, it seems even less likely. To interpret his music, one must first come to master the considerable technical pitfalls of his oeuvre . Just a glance over the Fantasy and Fugue on Wachet auf is enough to make the faint of heart quiver. Often accused of mere note-spinning for much of his career—and indeed, there are moments that seem to go on without end—there are many pieces that show the composer at his creative best: the individual sets of variations and fugues on themes by Bach, Hiller, Telemann, Mozart, and Beethoven; the Ballet Suite for orchestra; and the 100th Psalm all come to mind. It was, however, the organ that was Reger’s instrument, the one for which he wrote and played—and loved—above all others.


The present recital begins with, perhaps, the most technically challenging of all of the works on the recording, the aforementioned Wachet auf Fantasy. Harald Feller, a former student of both Franz Lehrndorfer and Marie Claire Alain, certainly possesses the required technical abilities to play this music well. More importantly, he also brings with him the requisite ability to make the most of the music. He plays here on the Max-Reger-Gedächtnisorgel (Max Reger Commemorative Organ) in St. Michael’s in Weiden, Germany, the same church in which the composer himself played in the earlier part of his career. Built just recently, it is, as the organist says, “the ideal instrument for this program. It unites the color and dynamic spectrum of late German Romanticism with the technical achievements of modern organ construction.” And, indeed, Feller certainly uses these to his advantage. Per Reger’s instructions, Feller creates a dark, brooding sound—gloomy and ominous even—at the opening of the piece. He later lightens this at the entrance of the chorale tune, which at first is just faintly audible. This builds, through all types of menacing variations, to a grand chordal conclusion—one in which the chorale tune is revealed in its full glory. In his hands, this work becomes a veritable tone poem for the organ, as rich in color as any orchestral work by Richard Strauss. Feller handles the other major work on the recording—the Morgenstern Fantasy and Fugue—with equal gusto and bravura, bringing with him an intimacy, refinement of detail, and ability to delineate the many strands of music that make Reger’s music so very rich and complex. The smaller pieces are handled with particular care, from the gentle yet harmonically wandering Ave Maria to the boisterous and lively Vom Himmel hoch chorale prelude.


Though planned as a recital of Christmas organ works, this is some of the best of what Reger has to offer as a composer for the instrument, played in a way that truly brings out the compelling nature of this music. If one has not yet experienced the glory of this side of the composer, this recording makes a wonderful introduction; if one knows this music, then this will make a very fine addition to one’s collection. Regardless of which, get it and enjoy!


FANFARE: Scott Noriega

“Great – I too will write two such things!” This was Max Reger’s comment on a performance including Brahms’s clarinet sonatas, and only a few weeks later he kept his word, delivering his first two clarinet sonatas in his op. 49. The Dresden State Orchestra’s young solo clarinetist Robert Oberaigner and the ARD prizewinner Michael Schöch have now joined forces to present not only this double stroke of genius but also Reger’s Sonata op. 107. Two encores supplying a surprisingly different tone, “Tarantella” and “Albumblatt,” round off the Weiden master’s clarinet oeuvre.

The two soloists form a chamber dream duo of a kind that is only rarely found. Tone colors and expressive gestures are exchanged and further developed, so that the result is pure joy: competition occurs in the field of dynamic expression, and the quest for the unknown becomes a common cause.

Luxurious 2+2+2 sound, a Super Audio CD of the highest recording quality, and everything that even the most highly discriminating music fans expect.

Max Reger has remained a controversial composer, in a way perhaps comparable to Wagner, Hindemith and Shostakovich. Even today, the presence of his oeuvre is by no means a matter of course in concert life or on recordings. There are still numberous musicians, including serious ones, who reject Reger's work, at times with good reason. Even a trained, experienced listener may find his works difficult to grasp, let alone comprehend. This release does a great deal to compensate for the gap in knowledge of Max Reger.

While Max Reger's A minor String Trio and D minor Piano Quartet offer little in the way of truly memorable tunes, their restless harmonic density consistently holds your attention and keeps you guessing. The Aperto players favor the musical equivalent of broad-brush strokes in the Trio by way of frequent dynamic swells and emphatic inflections of phrase. This creates a diverse and intensified tonal palette that wonderfully suits the slow movement's overcast mood and spacious time scale, as well as emphasizing the Allegro con moto finale's frequently unpredictable modulations. Yet the latter movement benefits more from the Manheimmer Quartet members' lighter, suppler bow work and greater expressive economy. Similarly, the Aperto's slower, earthier Scherzo significantly differs from the Mannheimer's brisk, conversational interpretation.

Close-up engineering underlines the big D minor Piano Quartet's symphonic dimensions, as well as creating a kind of aural fatigue that allows little textural variety. Moreover, the ensemble's frequent ritards at cadences (in addition to those that Reger indicates) impedes the outer movements' flow. This does not take anything away from each musician's obvious mastery, to say nothing of the physical and psychic stamina needed to get through any major Reger opus all in one piece. As such, Reger fans will welcome a chance to sample, and perhaps savor, these fascinating, seldom-heard works.

--Jed Distler, ClassisToday.com

Classical Music

A MusicWeb International Recording of the Month

The legend goes that Reger walked in on a private performance of one of Brahms’s clarinet sonatas opus 120, and was so taken by the work that he decided to compose two himself. Within a few months, the fruits of his labour resulted in his opus 49, a glorious evocation of the romantic idiom. But, as I stated in my review of Claudio Conti’s recording for Brilliant (95258), these three sonatas are individualistic works, tempered by the later romantic tradition. In that review, I felt that the tempi were a little too brisk; in my opinion the performance of Janet Hilton and Jakob Fichert for Naxos (8.572173) was my preferred recording. So I intend to compare this new recording with the latter.

My favourite among Reger’s clarinet sonatas is the B flat Major Op. 107. Unlike Hilton and Fichert, who present the three sonatas in order, Collins and McHale choose to make a bold statement by presenting this sonata first. In this sonata, and indeed throughout this disc, Collins and McHale choose a tempo which forms a happy medium between the Brilliant and the Naxos recordings. They can present the beauty of Hilton’s performance and some of the excitement of Conti’s. In Collins’s hands the work comes alive. It lives up to Reger’s description of the sonata as “a very light and friendly piece, not long at all, so that the character of the sound of the wind instrument does not tire”.

Collins and McHale’s performance of the two Sonatas Op. 49 are equally as good. Again, their tempo choice helps bring out the gaiety of the A flat Major, and the beauty and tenderness of the F sharp minor. These are very fine works. In Collins and McHale’s hand they are given a new lease of life. I now feel that there is little to choose between the three sonatas. I can see why they chose to present the sonatas in the order that they did. In these two sonatas Collins and McHale shine. Their performance quickly became my preferred recording of the few I have and I cannot see it being bettered soon.

Throughout this new recording, Collins and McHale are excellent. As already stated, their choice of tempi is an important factor. Not only does it help the listener get to the spirit of these three sonatas. It also means that their articulation of particular phrases and the changes in speed that these require are sharper and more precise. They are helped by the acoustic and the recorded sound, both excellent—as are Nicholas Marston’s booklet notes.

– MusicWeb International (Stuart Sillitoe)

REGER Clarinet Quintet. String Sextet • Ens Villa Musica; Ulf Rodenhäuser (cl) • MDG 304 1557 (72:04)

"This is something of an unexpected release. In the 1990s, MDG issued five numbered volumes of Reger’s chamber music, including the complete string quartets, all with ensembles centered on the Mannheim String Quartet. Apparently, however, that series has gone as far as it will go, since its last release is dated 1998. In the meantime, MDG has issued another disc of Reger’s two piano trios, and now this disc, neither with a volume number.

The Ensemble Villa Musica, a flexibly constituted group of Germany’s top instrumentalists, has also long been active with MDG, recording everything from Mozart to Hindemith. Perhaps the present release indicates that they are assuming the continuation of the Reger project; I believe this is their first recording of his music.

Clarinetist Rodenhäuser, the group’s leader, has chosen a fascinating pairing for this disc. The Clarinet Quintet, Reger’s last completed work (1915), is also probably his best-known chamber composition; by contrast, the String Sextet, also a late work (1910), is rarely encountered. Both combinations offer a wealth of opportunities for the sort of contrapuntal density that is so familiar in Reger’s music; the Quintet, however, favors instead a harmonic richness that, with the addition of the clarinet, gives the music an unprecedented warmth. The Sextet is “in F Major,” but the harmonic language of most of its first movement is so chromatic that this tonality really becomes clear only in retrospect. The opening is in Reger’s familiar spiky character, but this soon gives way to a great variety of textures: striking chorale-like passages, extensive octave doublings, and lyric episodes of the type that had begun creeping into Reger’s musical language more and more, beginning around the turn of the century. There is considerable lyricism, even delicacy, both in the first movement’s second group and in the trio of the Scherzo. MDG has the field pretty much to itself with the Sextet; while it has been recorded before—I have a Jecklin LP done by a group of Swiss musicians who sound like they have no idea what to make of the piece—this seems currently to be the only recording in print. The Villa Musica performance is confident and secure, and makes a good case for the piece as a representative of Reger’s evolving later style...MDG’s recording is exemplary as always: well detailed, but with plenty of space around the instruments. The notes, in three languages, cover all the important bases."

FANFARE: Richard A. Kaplan

REGER / 7 CHORALE FANTASIAS - Balazs Szabo

Classical Music