Classical Music

To describe Busoni's Fantasia contrappuntistica in all of its incredible detail would be the work of a graduate seminar in counterpoint. Busoni begins with a setting, divided into several variations, of the Lutheran chorale “Ehre sei Gott in der Ho?he” He goes on to develop, and eventually combine, all three of Bach’s subjects from the unfinished fugue. Then, after the connecting cadenza, he ventures beyond Bach’s original plan by writing a quadruple fugue that combines the chorale melody with the three original subjects. None of this, of course, need concern the general listener. It is enough that the Fantasia contrappuntistica is a work of exhilarating and beautiful power.

Reger was fond of the cello and wrote some of his best music for it. The Fourth Cello Sonata, Op. 116 (published in 1911), is an example of his mature cham- ber music style, and makes a better display of his undeniable powers than many of his more ambitious scores.

Founded in 1950 as a chamber music workshop for professional musicians, the Marlboro Festival has attracted outstanding concert and chamber music artists who have come to Vermont at their own expense to exchange musical ideas and to play chamber music. Away from the routine pressures of professional activity, they are free to explore the vast literature combining piano, strings, woodwinds, brass and voice, with concern only for the music itself. Weekend Festival concerts have been described by Time magazine as “the most exciting chamber music in the U.S.”

REGER / 7 CHORALE FANTASIAS - Balazs Szabo

CPO’s successful Reger edition continues here with the fifth volume in the successful series, even as critics are still raving about the previous release. Musik & Theater wrote of Volume 4: “These recordings number among the best currently available.” The German organist and choral conductor, Gerhard Weinberger, studied organ with Franz Lehrndorfer and church music at the Musikhochschule in Munich. In 1971, he was the prize winner in organ at the renowned international ARD Music Competition. In 1974, after spending three years directing the choir at Saint Lorenz Basilica in Kempten, Gerhard Weinberger assumed a teaching post in organ and church music at the Munich Musikhochschule. He was Professor of Organ there from 1977 to 1983. Currently he is Professor of Organ and Director of the Church Music Department at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold, Germany. He is a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, and of the Leipzig New Bach Society directorate. Gerhard Weinberger's wide repertoire ranges from pre-Baroque to music of the 20th century, with a special emphasis on the works of J.S. Bach and Max Reger. He has given recitals throughout Europe, Asia and America.

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.

In 2016, the musical world commemorates the centenary anniversary of Max Reger’s death. With the exception of opera, Reger composed in all musical genres and for various instrumentations. While he is frequently remembered for his organ music, it was his chamber music, which Reger concentrated on the longest- right up until his final composition, the Clarinet Quintet, Op. 146. To promote Reger’s music, it is necessary to bring young musicians in contact with it. Thus, there was born a unique project in cooperation between querstand label and University of Music and Theatre “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” Leipzig. 25 students have rehearsed chamber music works by Reger together with their internationally renowned teachers and recorded them at the University. The result is this release. This release provides an interesting insight into a part of Reger’s catalogue that can only rarely be heard today. Particularly notable is the inclusion of some rare cello works by Julius Klengel, a Reger colleague at the Leipzig conservatory and interpreter of Reger’s works, some of which were dedicated to him.

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)

Canadian musician Laura Young became a dedicated classical guitaristat the age of nine, and has since dazzled audiences with her unique style and daring concert programs. Laura Young presents this album of works by Max Reger in honor of the 100th anniversary of the composer’s death. Young is a professor at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria.

The Museum of Music Automatons in Seewen and the Max Reger Institute in Karlsruhe both contain recording rolls made by Max Reger and several of his contemporaries manufactured by the firm of M. Welte and Sons on a Welte Philharmonie recording organ beginning in 1911 in Freiburg im Breisgau. This double CD contains, for the first time, not only all the recordings that Reger made for the firm, but also more interpretations of Reger‘s works on the second CD with the organists Günther Ramin, Kurt Grosse, Walter Fischer and Joseph Messner.

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 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.

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.

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

REGER: Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Mozart (1950 / 19

At long last our successful Reger Edition continues on its way. The critics have been more than enthusiastic about the previous releases, and Musik & Theater even stated: “These recordings number among the best currently available in the field of Reger’s organ music.” This month we are releasing Vol. 7, again with two albums in the best SS, and this time featuring Reger’s five easy-to-play Preludes and Fugues op. 56. Although the composer termed this composition “an organ work of small caliber” in a letter to the publisher Lauterbach & Kuhn, the critics reacted positively, and the organist and composer Robert Frenzel numbered its pieces, which form anything but a secondary work, “among the most poetic phenomena in the most recent organ literature.” And we absolutely have to agree with him. The generic combination of “Prelude and Fugue” is frequently assigned to the realm of so-called absolute music, but Reger’s op. 56 does not seem to belong to this world in which only the musical structure is of significance; instead, particularly the preludes, which mostly practice dynamic moderation – like many of the “pieces” from op. 59 and other works – are distinguished by a pronounced poetic character.

Max Reger’s oeuvre occupies a unique position between the centuries. His advanced compositional techniques made him one of the most frequently performed composers at the Verein für musikalische Privataufführungen in Vienna and meant that he was held in great esteem by Arnold Schönberg. His affinity for Bach in his settings as well as in his choice of forms, architectonic techniques, and specific instrumentations was just as obvious as his grounding in Romanticism and his veneration for Beethoven and Brahms. Reger’s ties to the tradition – in this case to Mozart and Brahms – were the point of departure for his Clarinet Quintet in A major op. 146, a work radiating an ease that hardly seems to have been disturbed by the circumstances of a world war. The major tonality of the work is unusual in the chamber music from Reger’s late period and something it shares with the String Sextet op. 118. Apart from the sextet, after 1909 it is found only in the Flute Serenade in G major op. 141a and in the clarinet quintet. In contrast to these two other works, however, the sextet is of much greater complexity in formal design and material elaboration, which happens to be assigned to a very obvious thematic presentation. Even though Reger did not live to experience the publication and premiere of the clarinet quintet, the string sextet received a posthumous tribute inasmuch as the study score was immured in the base of Reger’s funerary monument in the Waldfriedhof in Munich on 11 May 1930.

The first two of Three Motets of op. 110, all dedicated to the Thomanerchor, present a demanding challenge to choral singers. On the other hand, in the Acht Geistliche Geseñnge op. 138, Reger shows his mastery of the straightforward setting - a masterly "new simplicity" - in which the composer spanned the bridge to his earlier choral works.

In order to take a respite and, in his own worlds, “to recuperate,” from his own compositions, Max Reger frequently engaged in “piece work,” in which he would arrange works by other composers. This release includes Reger’s original work 5 Orchestral Songs, as well as Reger’s arrangements of songs for voice and orchestra from Edvard Grieg, Johannes Brahms, Hugo Wolf, and Franz Schubert. Conductor Gregor Buhl has made his mark as an opera conductor. He also frequently performs on the concert stage with the Radio Symphony Orchestras of Berlin, Hamburg, and Leizip, and the Helsinki Philharmonic.

"The performances on these discs have one thing in common: they are almost shockingly direct, so that one hears the mind of the composer Hindemith working behind every note. Anyone used to the readings of Mozart’s K.428 and Beethoven’s Op. 96 by, say, the Busch or Smetana Quartets may feel a lack of colour and nuance here. ..And yet, if the listener is patient, much will be gained by attending carefully to this no-frills approach." (Tully Potter)

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

The TriOlogie String Trio presents an extremely interesting compilation of music for string trio on it's debut album "A Tres Voces". Reger's first string trio is juxtaposed with three works composed by women. Among other things, it becomes clear that the less popular trio formation is in no way inferior to the string quartet in terms of artistry and timbre.

Three nights of recording this album are behind me. This time has brought me even closer to the instrument of the organ-building company Hermann Eule in the Cathedral of St. Petri in my home town of Bautzen, which has been well known to me since my early childhood. The mystical atmosphere and soul of the house of God are especially palpable at night, when everything is silent and dark outside. The focus of my programme is Johann Sebastian Bach, who is an important guide and inspirer for me. Seb. Bach is for me the beginning and end of all music; on him rests and is based all true progress!" - this quote by Max Reger runs as a common thread through my programme for the recording. The important Leipzig Thomaskantor was also an important creative source for Karl Straube, Max Reger and Franz Liszt. Each of the pieces on this CD finds its own reference to the work and person of the Baroque master: from late Romantic arrangements of Bach works by Karl Straube and Max Reger, to a work by Franz Liszt that quotes thematic motifs from Bach works, to Max Reger's monumental composition on the tone letters B-A-C-H, all the compositions revolve around the person and work of Johann Sebastian Bach. I go in search of the musical expression of the 19th century and trace compositions and interpretations from this period. Numerous recordings on the historic Sauer and Walcker organs already document the tonal and musical influences of the late Romantic period on the way music was made. The Eule organ in Bautzen's St. Peter's Cathedral, with its broad sound spectrum and numerous fundamental voices, offers an instrument directly suited to this repertoire. Already Karl Straube, who performed the organ recording on 8 March 1910, was particularly impressed by the mild intonation of the sound body. The recording is my personal gift on the occasion of the 150th birth anniversaries of Karl Straube and Max Reger, which will be celebrated on 06 January 2023 and 09 March 2023 respectively. The programme revels in Bach interpretations around 1900, the heyday of symphonic organ art. In this epoch, not only were new compositions specifically geared to the instruments of the time created in the field of organ music, but existing works were also arranged. The listener embarks on a journey into the past and experiences with Romantic ears a 100-year-old reception history of Johann Sebastian Bach's music. Each of the recorded works refers in its own way to Johann Sebastian Bach, whose figure and name inspired Karl Straube, Max Reger and Franz Liszt to create new, contemporary late Romantic works."

Our successful Reger edition can finally continue, and critics continue to be more than enthusiastic about the previous installments, Musik & Theater even claiming, "These recordings are among the best currently available in organ music by Reger." And now the penultimate volume No. 8. The focus is on Reger's op. 67. In May 1901, Reger informed Straube of his intention to "write 30 chorale preludes to the best-known chorales." Over time, the project grew to 52 preludes. In the letter of October 22, 1902 to the publishing house Lauterbach & Kuhn in Leipzig, Reger wrote with regard to the collection Zweiundfünfzig leicht ausführbare Vorspiele zu den gebräuchlichsten evangelischen Chorälen op. 67 that he could "probably say without arrogance that no such collection has been published since J. S. Bach." In fact, Reger is to be agreed here without any reservations: Reger's op. 67 was a work that can be compared to Bach's "Orgelbüchlein" in terms of content as well as scope and pedagogical intention.

Max Reger (1873–1916) is noted for his devotion to Johann Sebastian Bach. His 3 Suites for Viola Solo Op. 131d – completed a year before his death – belong to a collection of works with an ancient feel in the style of Bach, which also comprises music for solo violin, for two violins and for cello. The three solo viola suites all emphasize the polyphonic nature of an instrument that to this day is still considered monodic.

Henri Vieuxtemps (1820–1881) was a key exponent of the Franco-Belgian school of advanced virtuoso violin technique and a contributor to the founding of the Russian school. His Capriccio per viola sola, Op. 55 begins with the instruction Lento, con molta espressione, a character that pervades the entire work. It is packed with rapid virtuosic passages that are challenging both for the left hand and the bow, maintaining a constant dialogue across a range of timbres.

In the 1970s, following years of avant-garde experimentation, the Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki (1933–2020) returned to a more ‘classic’ style, with conventional notation and melodies or small melodic intervals at the heart of his works. This is true of his Cadenza for Solo Viola, written in 1984. It is considered a piece in its own right, despite close links with the Viola Concerto written a year earlier.

Benjamin Britten (1913–1976) composed his Elegy for solo viola in 1930. Discovered only after his death, it can be seen as a youthful musical reflection and commentary on his miserable boarding school experience.

The Élégie for solo viola by Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971), composed in 1944, arguably has the structure of a two-part invention, divided up into exposition, fugue and recapitulation, and the various stages highlight the instrument’s polyphony with echoes of Bach.

Volume 9 & finale of the long-running series! The volcanic presence of composer Max Reger from the Upper Palatinate region of Germany does not make things easy for his interpreters or his listeners. Almost everything he wrote features such a bounty of musical ideas that only gradually is the persona behind it revealed. The organist Gerhard Weinberger is among those who have the proven ability to break through this facade. On his CDs no. 17 and 18, which comprise the ninth volume of this complete recording of colossal proportions, he also proves himself to be the ideal medium of a world view in which all is in continuous and inextinguishable motion. He has the organs of Chemnitz and Schwyz at his disposal – two stylistically appropriate instruments to produce the perfect Reger experience.

Especially the Romantic Suite belongs to Reger's most beloved orchestral works. Here to be heard in a live recording.

The late 19th century saw the expansion of the Neustadt; the German district of Strasbourg; recently listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Built during the same period; the three historic organs chosen for the complete recording of Johannes Brahms’ organ chorales are the precious witnesses to a time of exceptional artistic luxuriance. The three Fin de siècle composers whose works were additionally selected by Jean-Michel Douiller revive Brahms’s sonorous world as they breathe life into these three instruments: Ernest Chausson; Max Reger; and Gustav Busch. The works by Chausson and Busch are recorded for the very first time on the CD at hand.

Karl Bohm and the Staatskapelle of Dresden Historical Recordings 1937, 1939, 1942 "I headed the Sachsische Staatskapelle Dresden for nine years - the most wonderful and meaningful time of my life", wrote Karl Bohm in 1973 for the 425th anniversary of the orchestra. He was forty years of age in 1934, when he moved up the Elbe from Hamburg to assume direction of the Dresden State Orchestra and Opera. There, his sensitive yet dramatic style of conducting, his vigour and intellectual resilience, his feel for classical form and unerring sense of tempo (not to mention his strict discipline and utterly infallible hearing) very soon won the respect and trust of the musicians and singers in his charge; they did after all represent one of the best orchestras and most capable opera ensembles in Europe. Every season, Bohm conducted nearly all the Staatskapelle concerts and about 70 opera performances, setting new standards above all in the Mozart, Wagner and Strauss repertoire (including the world premieres of Die Schweigsame Frau and Daphne, the latter work being dedicated to him). In this extraordinarily extensive activity, he set his stamp on the ensemble, whose guest performances confirmed it's international ranking. Even in his first year in Dresden, he made recordings in the Semperoper, which always had to be especially prepared for the purpose. They included numerous individual symphonic works and items from opera, as well as lavish projects that were technically difficult to record at the time.

This new album by Gavle Symphony Orchestra and conductor Jaime Martin includes two perhaps finest orchestral works by Max Reger (1873-1916) written towards the end of his life, the Four Tone Poems after Bocklin and the Romantic Suite, both sensous and poetic works suggesting a loose connection with Debussy. Reger's 150th anniversary of birth was celebrated in 2023. Yet, much of Reger's music appears on concert programmes only very occasionally. During his own lifetime Reger was highly admired: Paul Hindemith described Reger as "the last giant of music," and when Schoenberg founded his Society for Private Musical Performances in 1918, Max Reger, along with Debussy and Bartok, was one of the most frequently performed composers. Admiring Reger as an important innovator, Schoenberg promoted his music because "he still remains unfamiliar" and "I consider him a genius". Reger's Four Tone Poems after Bocklin and the Romantic Suite are sufficient to prove that Schoenberg was totally right.

Around the central work of the CD, the "Friedenskonzert" by Daan Manneke, Gudrun Sidonie Otto, soprano, and the cathedral organist of the Basel Minster, Andreas Liebig, present a very multifaceted and expressive programme. The "Friedenskonzert" is part of the Baseler Psalms, which were commissioned for the millennium celebrations of the Basel Minster. In the programme, it is framed by two chorale arrangements on the Lutheran chorale "Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir", one by Johann Sebastian Bach, the other by Max Reger. Furthermore, Gudrun Sidonie Otto sings two extremely demanding works, "Aus den Visionen der Hildegard von Bingen" by Sofia Gubaidulina and "Djamila Boupachà" by Luigi Nono. The whole programme is framed by two of the most important works of organ music, Bach's Fantasia et Fuga g-minor, BWV 542 and the organ sonata "Der 94. Psalm" by Julius Reubke, both masterly played at the organ of the Basel Minster by Andreas Liebig.