Max Reger(1873-1916)

Started by Dundonnell, October 27, 2008, 03:55:53 PM

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Herman

Quote from: Mandryka on September 28, 2023, 12:23:07 PMThe second movement of op 109, quasi presto - dangerously addictive - really imaginative music.

That's the scherzo with the trumpet solo on the viola.

Mandryka

I found myself enjoying Armida Quartet and Kilian Herold playing the op 146 Clarinet Quintet.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Jo498

I have heard about 3-4 recordings of the clarinet quintet, of the ones mentioned I only have Meyer/Vienna.
The most sumptuous is the more recent Naxos recording with Klaus Hampl and Quartetto di Roma (not the one with Fuchs/Philharmonia Q).
I actually got this for the Marteau coupling (but the Marteau is not such an interesting piece, I am afraid).
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

Symphonic Addict

Quote from: Jo498 on September 29, 2023, 11:01:04 AMbut the Marteau is not such an interesting piece, I am afraid

I'm totally opposite to this. An utterly exquisite piece of music, and the same goes for his first two string quartets.
Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

Scion7

I enjoy Marteau's music, but I don't put it on the same level as Reger's.
When, a few months before his death, Rachmaninov lamented that he no longer had the "strength and fire" to compose, friends reminded him of the Symphonic Dances, so charged with fire and strength. "Yes," he admitted. "I don't know how that happened. That was probably my last flicker."

Jo498

Quote from: Symphonic Addict on September 29, 2023, 03:40:45 PMI'm totally opposite to this. An utterly exquisite piece of music, and the same goes for his first two string quartets.
It's nice enough if one is interested in the clarinet or late romantic chamber music, like other clarinet quintets by e.g. Fuchs, Kornauth, Coleridge. But I am pretty sure that the typical Reger fan will prefer a Reger quartet as coupling.
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

Herman

Quote from: Jo498 on September 30, 2023, 12:48:56 AMthe typical Reger fan will prefer a Reger quartet as coupling.

Great numbers of Reger fans out there, I'm sure... ;)

I have 146s coupled with the Brahms clt quintet and with the Hindemith clt qt. And indeed with a Reger quartet or sextet.

Spotted Horses

I was inspired to revisit Reger's Quartet Op 109, and enjoyed it more than I expected to. I listened to the Drolc Quartet recording. At least some parts of it seem to partake of Reger's neoclassical style, rather than the overheated romanticism that characterize some of his work. Went on to the Clarinet Quintet, also Drolc, with Leister, and was not as taken by the music.
There are simply two kinds of music, good music and the other kind. - Duke Ellington

Mandryka

#328
Quote from: Spotted Horses on September 30, 2023, 07:11:59 AMI was inspired to revisit Reger's Quartet Op 109, and enjoyed it more than I expected to. I listened to the Drolc Quartet recording. At least some parts of it seem to partake of Reger's neoclassical style, rather than the overheated romanticism that characterize some of his work. Went on to the Clarinet Quintet, also Drolc, with Leister, and was not as taken by the music.

There certainly is an audible change of style between 109 and 146! And I find late Reger hard sometimes, I have to be in the mood. It's like I have to be open to the music, rather than the music seducing me.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Spotted Horses

Quote from: Mandryka on September 30, 2023, 07:35:24 AMThere certainly is an audible change of style between 109 and 146! And I find late Reger hard sometimes, I have to be in the mood. It's like I have to be open to the music, rather than the music seducing me.

I continued with the Sextet, Op 118, in the recording by the Wiener Streichsextet (the pairing with the recording of the quintet with Sabine Meyer) and found myself generally pleased. I think I would have to listen to this music a hundred times to really feel that I've grasped the thematic relationships, etc, but for a first run through the texture of the music is pleasing.

I think it was the Cello and Piano Sonatas that flummoxed me the most. The piano "accompaniment" was so decoupled from the cello line that sometimes I felt that it was two pieces of music being played at once.
There are simply two kinds of music, good music and the other kind. - Duke Ellington

Herman

#330
Quote from: Spotted Horses on September 30, 2023, 07:11:59 AMWent on to the Clarinet Quintet, also Drolc, with Leister, and was not as taken by the music.
To me the opus 146 is one of those rare swan songs that are truly a sublime summing up of the artist's life. I, too, looked at and listened to the clarinet quintet today and it's just a stunning work, especially in the pervasive sadness of the quick movements, the beautiful, intricate scherzo and trio and in the finale variations. The final mvt is a tiny sonata in itself, complete with a miniature scherzo and ending in the sostenuto lament full of Weh. Beautiful!
String quartets should be eager to hook up with a clarinet player and conclude the program with op. 146.

Mandryka

#331


This is The Schoenberg Quartet's collected recordings box, and there's a couple of Reger things in it - I'm listening to the op 121 quartet.


I'm really enjoying it for some reason, despite the less than perfect recorded sound. It seems sensual and fluid and melodic. Anyway for whatever the reason, this performance has caught my attention - first last night and again this morning.

Tempos are broad sometimes, the broadest on record as far as I can see - I think that was a good decision obvs.


Quote from: Mandryka on July 01, 2022, 08:26:30 AM

I'd have thought that anyone who enjoys The Schoenberg Quartet's Schoenberg would not feel it was a waste of time to check out their Reger op 121 quartet - which seems to me this afternoon, after an afternoon of dipping in to lots of op 121s, to be the best performance I've heard of it in fact.

How can I put it? It's coherent, fluid, seamless.

Oh look! I've said it all before and forgotten - too much music!
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen