Max Reger, Hugo Wolf, and Anton Bruckner

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Too tired to type much. Anyway...

This has been on my mind for a while. Of all modern composers (late 19th, early 20th century), probably the three that speak to me  the most deeply are these three (ok, throw in Shostakovich and Debussy too, but they're quite different). Aside from the fact that all three were heavily influenced by Wagner, and all three wrote music that is hard to appreciate at first, what is the common thread that unites them? I can't help but feel that there is an important underlying philosophy or spirit that all three share. I suppose Wolf, whose music is the most romantic of all three, may be the odd man out here in not being a sort of medieval spirit in an modern world.

Any thoughts? How many of you like all three? Do you like two of the three--which two, and why not the other one?

As for the big names in modern music, I honestly really don't care for much if anything Bartok, Stravinsky, Hindemith wrote. I burned myself out on Malhler early in my listening career. I have a hard time listnening to his music now. As for R. Strauss, I think the Metamorphosen is an absolutely profound work, and I love the violin sonata, but not much else.

I can't help but think that music by Reger, Wolf, and Bruckner is really more profound than anything by these other composers (noting the exceptions above.

[The new erato]

Too may points to comment on in one post.

Re Strauss, I tend to listen to the later works, I absolutely share your love for the Metamorphosen, but would also  include the late songs and the late and wonderful opera Capriccio.  I definitely feel that his best work was done for the voice, though there are concertante works wirh the same songlike lyricism that I also rate highly. Most of his tone poems I feel are more eartbound and belong to a thing of the past.

[val]

Bruckner is my preferred Symphonist, after Beethoven. The 8th and 9th Symphonies are on top of the Symphonies I most love.

I would say the same regarding Wolf. He is not very popular but no doubt that he composed some of the most sublime Lieder in German language. The Spanisches Liederbuch, many of the Goethe Lieder and above all the Lieder on poems of Möricke have an extraordinary beauty (my favorite being "Wo find ich Trost").

Reger is not, perhaps, at the same level. He shows some difficulty in creating very personal motifs. But he is a master of the variation (the Hiller Variations above all) and he composed splendid chamber music (the clarinet Quintet and the string Quartet opus 109 are great masterpieces). His choral music seems less interesting, at least to me.

[Lethevich]

With Reger I find a lot to turn to. Taken on its own merits, I find his early (sub opus 100) music is of a remarkably high level of quality considering the amount written. With a composer like Reger, I find that his lack of that last degree of inspiration is less of a problem when you have an affinity for the style - I greatly enjoy his burnished, slightly anachronistic sounding way of writing which adds an appealingly cohesive "underline" to any of his neo-baroque elements. I can listen to his chamber music for long periods of time, and his other music offers great appeal to me as well, even the maligned organ works.

[Josquin des Prez]

The organ music might have a better reputation if you could find an organist who didn't suck at playing it. The problem with Reger is that he started writing too early, and he wrote too much. A bit of Bhramsianism would have done his career much good.

[Cato]

Max Reger seems like he should be greater, but whether it is the lack of memorable material in many compositions, or that he does not handle great material well, the current judgment keeps him well below Bruckner.

I recall reading through the scores of a good number of his organ works, and I believe Josquin may be right: one needs an extremely talented organist to play them properly.  Possibly a great organist with a similar soul might reveal things previously unheard in Reger's major organ works.

Hugo Wolf and his song cycles: one could debate whether he reaches greater heights than Reger.  From what I have heard and seen in the scores, I believe he does, but would need to hear more of both of their works.