Classical Music

Classical Music

Max Reger's (1873-1916) Suites for Solo Cello are technically demanding, harmonically complex and melodically attractive works of late-German Romanticism which look both backward and forward to J. S. Bach and the neo-classicism of the coming age. +Cellist Karen Buranskas is Associate Professor of Music, Cello at the University of Notre Dame and member of the Notre Dame String Trio. +As an active concert soloist, she has given recitals in major concert halls in the U.S., Europe and Asia

Richter Archives, Vol. 16: Poulenc & Reger

“Strauss | Reger - Lieder mit und ohne Worte” includes lieder with and without Words by Richard Strauss: 12 original lieder for soprano and piano are juxtaposed with 12 lieder arrangements for piano solo by Max Reger. On this album, Sheha Tehoval sings a dozen of the most beautiful Strauss lieder, accompanied on the piano by Georg Michael Grau. Tehoval has selected some of Strauss‘ best-known lieder, especially those that he repeatedly performed with his wife, Pauline Strauss-de Ahna, during joint lieder recitals. However, there are also rare gems of his lied writing represented within the selection of twelve lieder. Another dozen are performed by the young pianist Grau without text, as “Lieder ohne Worte / Songs without Words” for piano. The Munich-based publisher Eugen Spitzweg, nephew of the famous painter and owner of the Josef Aibl music publishing house, came up with the brilliant idea of having the lieder of his protégé Strauss arranged for solo piano by Max Reger. From these arrangements, Georg Michael Grau has in a way put together a Strauss-Reger piano cycle. Soprano Sheva Tehoval and pianist Georg Michael Grau present these recordings in a unique interpretation.

This is a magnificent, major work for organ by Max Reger (1873-1916), beautifully performed by Christopher Anderson. Christopher Anderson is Associate Professor of Sacred Music at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, where he teaches graduate courses in history and theory in the Perkins School of Theology and the Meadows School of the Arts. He joined the SMU faculty in fall 2006, having taught previously in the Music Department of the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks. Anderson is a scholar and organist whose work has centered on early musical modernism, modern German history and philosophy, the organ’s position in Western culture, and the composer Max Reger. He has written extensively on Reger and his music in two books, Max Reger and Karl Straube: Perspectives on an Organ Performing Tradition (Ashgate 2003) and Selected Writings of Max Reger (Routledge 2006).

Elena Denisova is one of the outstanding personalities in the elite class of Russian violinists. Her exceedingly high degree of musical maturity, individual interpretation and superlative virtuosity are recognized by audiences and critics alike. This could be heard recently at the Festival Opening Celebration of this year's Salzburg Festival in the Kollergienkirche.

Max Reger (1873-1916) was an astonishingly prolific composer, amassing a total of well over a thousand works in a short career. His earliest compositions were lieder and chamber works, and it was the latter genre that inspired Reger to compose his finest music. His mature output reflected both the Baroque revival and modernist tendencies, with two of the most lasting influences upon his style being Brahms and Bach. Reger has an unfair reputation for complexity and turgidity that by no means defines a large share of his oeuvre. Today his music is rarely played, yet in a 1922 letter Schoenberg described him as a genius, including Reger in the same breath with Wagner, Mahler, Strauss and Debussy. Reger’s Piano Trio in E minor is sometimes described as his ‘Second Piano Trio’ but is in fact the first he composed for the usual three instruments. The first movement is a large-scale extended sonata structure on a seminal E–F–D sharp–E motif that in the manner of Brahms binds not only the movement but the entire work. A spectral pizzicato scherzo in C minor follows, then a Largo sonata–rondo with a beautiful hymn-like theme. The Brahmsian finale includes examples of Reger’s beloved fugal writing, march-rhythms and a chorale-like theme. A propensity for full textures, exemplified in much of this trio, suggests the influence of the organ loft, where Reger was perhaps most at home. The three pieces Op.79d for violin and piano, dating from 1902/4, just a few years before the Piano Trio, reveal Reger the miniaturist, as do the two brief pieces for cello and piano Op.79e. Though relatively slight in the context of Reger’s output, these sets are greatly varied in mood and indicative of the expressive range that characterizes the composer’s musical output as a whole.

In the almost three years since his move from Weiden to the Musikzentrum München Reger had himself with harmonically bolder and tonally uncompromising song collections, organ and chamber music works have earned the reputation of an "enfant terrible of the German music" was acquired. The Opus 77, consisting of a Serenade in D major for flute, violin and viola as well as the String Trio in A minor op. 77b, which in April and June 1904 should be a work of stylistic change according to the composer's will. When Reger eleven years later with the String Trio in D minor op. 141b another work in this instrumentation, the much performed first contribution already served as Reference work of a revived genus. The string trio Il Furibondo was founded in 2011 by violinist Liana Mosca, violist Gianni de Rosa and cellist Marcello Scandelli. The three musicians collaborate regularly with legendary early music ensembles such as “Il Giardino Armonico” and “Le Concert des Nations”. Their repertoire ranges from the Baroque (played on period instruments) to the music of the first half of the 20th century. “Furibondo” was the term used by Giuseppe Tartini to describe the performance style of the great violinist Francesco Geminiani. From the start, Il Furibondo gained recognition for its outstanding level of musical interpretation, including its recording of Bach’s Fuges transcribed by Mozart, for the recording label Stradivarius. Since then, the trio has been active in radio and concert performances throughout Italy and Europe, including Le Settimane Musicali (Merano), Ceresio Estate (Lugano), Milano ArteMusica, Paesaggi Musicali Toscani and Rencontres Internationales Harmoniques in Geneva.

Markus Becker writes of his new release: “I’ve been playing and studying Reger’s piano music for a long time now. In the 1990s, not long after graduation, I recorded his complete works for solo piano. Ever since then, I’ve been featuring Reger frequently in my recitals; not only solo piano pieces, but chamber music including violin, clarinet, and cello sonatas, the works for two pianos, piano trios, quartets, and Lieder. Reger composed an impressive quantity of music in almost all genres. Of course I’ve been familiar with the Piano Concerto for a long time, but I only recorded it for the first time live in January 2017. That is the source for the recording on this album…”

In 1904 Max Reger wrote what was to be the first in a major sequence of variations on themes by his great predecessors. The Variations and Fugue on a Theme by J.S. Bach was written for piano but its richness and virtuosity exceed the scope of the instrument. Ira Levin’s orchestration clarifies the structure, intensifies climaxes and reduces its length. The Four Tone Poems explore the paintings of the symbolist Arnold Bocklin and form symphonic mood pictures that veer from delicacy to Bacchanalian frenzy.

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REVIEW:

That this is a welcome release scarcely needs to be said: too often Reger is considered a significant composer for organ, but significant within that niche: a master of fugal writing, perhaps on the heavy teutonic side. But, of course, there has always been more to him than this. This Naxos release allows wider access to his works in commendable performances by a conductor evidently deeply sympathetic to his cause.

The Variations and Fugue on a Theme by J.S.Bach, Op.81 (1904) are an arrangement by Ira Levin of Reger’s work for piano. In 1904, Reger considered it his finest work to date, and it was enthusiastically greeted on first public performance. The theme comes from the aria ‘Seine Allmacht zu ergründen, wird sich kein Mensche finden’, originally a duet for tenor and contralto, with oboe, viola d’amore and continuo, from Cantata No. 128, Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein. Reger had insisted that the pianist treat the theme ‘sweetly and always very legato—that is to say, like an oboe solo’. Levin’s arrangement catches that very well.

It should be noted that Levin does not merely rearrange for different instruments: he reconstructs the work in a valuable reimagining – tempo is slower, preferring 6/4 time to Reger’s more general 6/8. He omits four variations (6,7,11 and 12), and uses a broad variety of instrumentation, notably in percussion, though no instruments not found elsewhere in his works. The result has revealing clarity and a taut architecture, very enjoyable in its own terms. Orchestration brings out very sharply the relationship to the organ, especially in the opening variations, and perhaps even more to Reger’s reverence for Brahms: sonorities are frequently Brahmsian. Levin is absolutely true to the spirit of Reger and his special emotional world. If the letter is Reger is an issue, some will prefer the piano version: but there is more than enough room for both.

Four Tone Poems after Arnold Böcklin, Op.128 (1913) is Reger’s best-known orchestral work, inspired by the paintings of Böcklin, the 19th Century Swiss artist. These were symbolist pictures, with some abrupt changes of mood. Reger marks these shifts with subtlety. The overall mood is serious, but with many charms, notably in Der geigende Eremit (‘The Hermit Fiddler’) with its lovely violin solo, wonderfully captured by Klaudyna Schulze-Broniewska, the leader of the Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester.

Add the slightly romantic arrangement by Reger of O Mensch, bewein’ dein’ Sünde gross, BWV 622 to the mix, and we have a CD whose appeal should move far beyond Reger enthusiasts. This is a splendid introduction for those who have thought of Reger as too heavy for their tastes, and packed with insights for those who have come to love him.

– MusicWeb International (Michael Wilkinson)

Clarinetist Stephan Siegenthaler brings Max Reger's complete works for clarinet back to life, 100 years after his death. Reger barely had 20 productive years of composition however you'd never know it looking at his vast oeuvre, comprised of all genres with the exception of opera. Siegenthaler, born in Switzerland has studied music and performed all throughout Europe including Germany, Geneva and Bratislava.

 

REVIEW:

 

All chamber works of Max Reger for clarinet, one with string quartet, the others with piano, are comprised in this compilation. The music is not easy and one has to listen carefully until getting the point, even though the artists on this CD come up with very fine performances.

 

– Pizzicato

Clearly modeled on Brahms’ Clarinet Sonatas Op. 120, Max Reger’s clarinet sonatas Op. 49 contain beautiful melodic lines, intertwining dialogue between the two performers, and extended chromatic harmony. This album, being released at the centennial of Reger’s death, contains his Sonatas Op. 49, as well as his Clarinet Sonata in B-Flat, Op. 107, Albumblatt in E-Flat, and Tarantella in G Minor. Italian clarinetist Claudio Conti performs these works, along with pianist Roberta Bambace. Liner notes are provided in Italian and English.

Composed between 1900 and 1908, Reger's three clarinet sonatas were directly inspired by the two sonatas op. 120 by Brahms. Hugely prolific, Reger sought to extend the harmonic language of Brahms, taking tonality to the point of breakdown and causing Schoenberg to consider Reger a genius. Richly romantic in style, Reger's clarinet music has been unjustly neglected. Played with passion and commitment, this disc gives a welcome opportunity of hearing these masterworks. Supported by extensive booklet notes and rare archive photographs, this disc will be coveted by lovers of romantic music and those interested to hear Reger's wonderful contribution to the clarinet repertoire.

A traditionalist who honored his German musical heritage, Reger was nonetheless recognized as a formal innovator by modernists such as Arnold Schoenberg. Reger’s own keyboard skills were considerable. These pieces were composed when he was living in Munich in 1904. Ksenia Nosikova probes the depths of these works with insight and sensitivity. Pianist Ksenia Nosikova, praised as “First rate” (Germany’s Fono Forum), “Full of dramatic intensity” (London’s International Piano), “Subtle and expressive” (France’s Journal L’Alsace) “Impressive musicianship, musically very poetic” (Boston Globe), and “Refined sensibility and exquisite pianism” (New York Concert Reviews), has performed extensively in Europe, Asia, Russia, USA, Canada, and South America. The scope of her concert engagements expands from prestigious professional concert venues, such as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and Merkin Hall in New York City, and Dame Myra Hess Concert Series in Chicago, to major academic institutions world-wide, including over 180 American universities’ guest artist series. She performed in various music festivals including Amalfi Coast (Italy), Schlern (Italy), Rimini (Italy), Munster (France), and Novi Sad (Serbia), as well as the Aspen and Sarasota Music Festivals in the United States. Her diverse and extensive repertoire list consists of masterworks and lesser-known pieces, as well as over 30 piano concertos. Ksenia Nosikova has recorded for Profil Medien, Albany Records, Centaur Records, and Capstone Records labels.

REVIEW:

Ksenia Nosikova plays the music with affection, lightness of touch, and a smile. It makes all the difference. These small character pieces were Reger’s response to those he called “ignoramuses” for criticizing the complexity of so much of his music. Their style occasionally recalls the piano music of other composers (Chopin’s Berceuse is referenced in the final entry in the First Book of the diaries, which was completed in 1904). Book 2 followed in 1906, Books 3 and 4 in 1912. There is little stylistic development over that span. Reger’s admiration for Bach is evident in some of the pieces, like the Prelude and Fugue that open Book 4 and a Gavotte in Book 3, but even there the style is more Romantic than neo-Baroque.

This lovely collection makes for very pleasant listening, whether in short snippets or even over a longer span. Virtually every one of the 35 miniatures would be an attractive addition to the piano repertoire. A warm, natural piano sound and informative notes by Marian Wilson Kimber round out this fine set. Nosikova’s ability to depict a wide range of moods and colors in this music makes this a happy recommendation.

-- Fanfare (Henry Fogel)