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.

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.

On his new GENUIN album, cellist Christian Erben, a member of the renowned Gewandhaus Orchestra, presents one of the most intriguing oeuvres for his instrument from the 20th century: Max Reger's three suites for solo cello. Baroque grandeur and intellectual depth, late-Romantic harmony, and masterful counterpoint: no one had explored the soloistic possibilities of perhaps the most human of all instruments as comprehensively since Johann Sebastian Bach as Max Reger did. Christian Erben delves into the immense suites down to the finest detail and brings their tonal intricacies to light!

A new recording of two major Reger cycles, by a fast-emerging British piano talent. 'To fathom his all-powerful might, no human may accomplish' - this is the text, from a duet in Bach's Cantata BWV128, which Reger takes as the subject of his Bach Variations, and it may fairly be advanced that Reger accorded Bach a comparably divine status. At the age of just 31, Reger had by this stage assimilated not only Bachian counterpoint but it's transformation through the ears and imaginations of Schumann and Brahms and others, and he proceeds to treat the theme with astonishing freedom, testing the technique of the performer while reaching for the limits of the theme's musical possibilities over the course of 14 variations. The cycle concludes with a mighty fugue - or fugues, on separate subjects (of Reger's own devising, eventually welded with the Bach theme). In his booklet essay, Eden Walker remarks that the final bars are 'some of the most colossal and victorious of any in the entire piano repertoire.' By contrast, as a salutary demonstration of Reger's versatility, the Traume am Kamin present him at his most relaxed and intimate, and anyone who has found it hard to warm to Reger will surely find in this cycle a delightful entry-point to an often forbidding catalogue. 'Dreams by the Fireside' - Reger's knotty chromatic harmony still underpins the progress of these Romantic sketches, but now disguised by a touch of the 'lateness' that comes over many artists towards the end of their lives or careers, whether or not they were aware of it. This cycle was Reger's final piano cycle before his death in 1916, aged 41, and the mood of the cycle is perhaps also marked by a necessary escapism from the violent bloodshed around him. Born in 1995, Eden Walker has become a specialist in the ultra-virtuoso end of Romantic piano writing at the hands of composers such as Alkan, Busoni and Godowsky (and Reger). Based in Hamburg, he now teaches at the Staatliche Jugendmusikschule, as well as furthering his own studies and giving concerts across Germany and the UK.

Brilliant Classics have celebrated the 150th Anniversary of Reger’s birth last year by expanding their Reger Collection of a decade ago from 11 to 18 CDs. Added to the original set, which presented Reger’s best known works – the glorious orchestral Böcklin Suite, the Mozart, Beethoven and Hiller Variations, the mighty piano and violin concertos, the beautiful clarinet quintet (not in the least inferior to Brahms’ masterpiece), the complete Chorale Fantasias for organ (Reger, an organist himself, wrote extensively and superbly for his instrument) and a fine selection of choral music – is a new set of chamber music including the Piano Trio, Flute-Violin-Viola Serenades, Clarinet–Piano Sonatas and other works, and Reger’s compositions for solo viola and for solo cello. The transparency of the chamber music genre particularly highlights the composer’s absolute mastery of counterpoint. Also new is an expanded keyboard section, with more works for the organ – so associated with Reger – including the Sonatas and Fantasy–Fugues, and a new solo piano CD recorded in 2023 by Eden Walker featuring Dreams by the Fireside and the Bach Variations and Fugue.

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.

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

Max Reger is best known for vast, abstract keyboard works in fugue and variation form. But alongside these masterful constructions his creativity also turned to more introspective album pages that reveal an entirely different side to his character. The influence of Schumann can be found in the first of his Improvisationen alongside echoes of Brahms and Chopin in the Six Morceaux. We also encounter rhapsodic miniatures from Aus meinem Tagebuch and the popular Maria-Wiegenlied, with the late collection Tr�ume am Kamin appearing as a self-confessional summary of Reger's career and style.

The most comprehensive survey ever made of Reger’s organ music, on a range of superb Austrian, German, and Swiss instruments: a fitting tribute to the composer on the 150th anniversary of his birth.

Roberto Marini's feat of performing Reger's entire output for organ in Italy within a single year (2002) was followed in 2011-13 by this remarkable achievement on record. On the basis of authoritative new critical editions compiled by the Max Reger Institute, Marini recorded the works on historical instruments of Reger's time, which with their orchestral richness of color and dynamic possibilities correspond to the soundworld of an epoch that believed in progress in every dimension and embodied a kind of striving heroism as an attitude to both life and art.

First released in individual albums on the Fugatto label, this box compiles Roberto Marini’s Reger albums complete for the first time, together with an authoritative essay by Suzanne Pepp on Reger’s output for organ.

Inspired by Franz Schubert's late lieder compositions and works by Johannes Brahms, among others, in which voice and piano are enhanced by another melody instrument, we have taken a completely new approach to our lieder recital repertoire. The result can now be heard on this CD: Songs of the Romantic period, freshly arranged for soprano, violoncello and piano.
In art songs, as in chamber music in general, there are often concealed lines within the piano movements which gain greatly in expression through the accompaniment of a solo instrument. For this reason, we feel that our combination of voice, piano and melody instrument is particularly effective and has an enriching effect on the listening experience of the art songs presented here. The contrasting registers of soprano and cello complement both the music and the substance of the text from different angles, the timbre of the cello being ideal for the hues and shades of these songs as its solo role augments these delicate arrangements. The work"Auf dem Strom" by Franz Schubert - also on this CD - is one of the best-known original compositions of this genre.

Reger: 3 Suites for Cello Solo, Op. 131c

Max Reger (1873-1916) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor whose music bridged the late Romantic and early modern eras. Deeply influenced by J.S. Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms, Reger was known for his contrapuntal mastery and harmonic richness. Though his reputation has often rested on his organ and chamber music, his output for piano four-hands offers a revealing glimpse into his compositional personality - both his intellectual rigor and his warmth of expression. Reger's four-hand works display his more lyrical and accessible side. These miniatures reveal his gift for melody and his subtle harmonic colorings, offering a contrast to the density often associated with his larger compositions. Across his four-hand output, Reger uses the medium not only as a vehicle for technical exploration but also as a form of musical conversation - a dialogue between two pianists that mirrors his complex yet humanistic musical voice. The works included are: Walzercapricen Op, 9, Deutsche Tanze Op.10, 6 Walzer Op.22, Cinq pieces pittoresques Op.34, Sechs Burlesken Op.58 and 6 Stucke Op.94. Of the Sechs Burlesken Reger himself wrote: "In order to give my 'harmonic' mood the freedom it deserves, I will [...] soon write Scenes burlesques pour piano � quatre mains, but I am already 'warning' all academies etc. About them; it will be a crazy thing, harmonically exuberant! Oh, there are still many, many 'north and south poles in harmonics'!". Played by Davide and Daniele Trivella, twins brothers, internationally known as one of the most interesting piano duos and winners in Miami of the most important competition for piano duo "Murray Dranoff". Their extraordinary performances have impressed juries of the most important national and international piano duet competitions.

Reger, Reubke: Organ Works

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music