Max Reger(1873-1916)

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

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vers la flamme

Quote from: André on October 24, 2020, 10:31:19 AM
Nice haul, and good choices all !

..............

Listening to the sonata op 122 and the Suite op 103a for violin and piano. The latter work is made up of 6 pieces that Reger specifically composed in the dual role of standalone recital pieces or of a suite in 6 movements. Reger always had practicality in mind when composing works, in the wake of Haydn and preceding Hindemith in that regard. Very romantic works, played with great feeling by Wallin and Pōntinen.



Thanks! I'm looking forward to hearing all of it (eventually), and to clarify my previous post, the organ music in question is on Naxos. That CPO looks nice too, but I think I'm going to hold off on any more Reger for now until I can assimilate my recent acquisitions.

Herman

#241
Quote from: Herman on August 07, 2020, 08:53:26 AM
at the mo I would agree [with Andre's preceding comment, preferring the Hiller Variations], since the Hillers have been in my cd-player for more than a week now.

I love the  as if classical-ness of the Mozart Variations  -  with, mind you, a whole bit of churning Wagnerian chromaticism in the slow variation  -  and perhaps the concluding fugue is just a tad better.

However the Hillers have this same wild, crazy deep-in-the-night sound world as the piano concerto. They are op 100 and op 101.

The orchestration in both of these variation suites is just do die for. No triangle or other funny sound effects, just the technical mastery of mixing instrument groups and dividing instrument groups infinitely. Sometimes all the string groups are divided up, and you have four different lines in the violins alone.

I'm not "responding to self" because I find myself so interesting, I was actually responding to Andre.

There may be some tiredness in the works near the end. For instance I find those big orchestral Lieder (opp 136 and 144) not too hopping. It's like Reger is trying to tone himself down in those works.

There is part of this in the Mozart Variations, too, but it's like he can't keep his true nature down, and the last variation (molto sostenuto) is just deeply chromatic and in the concluding fugue the sound world gets that wild woodsy character familiar from the Piano Cto and the Hiller Variations. Even though there are nog trombones or tuba in the Mozart Variations. Officially it's scored for "small orchestra"  -  though you'd never know this while listening.

The Mozart fugue's material is perhaps better than in the Hillers, and the concluding pages with the horns / trumpets in a celestial waltz (in 6/8) knocks it out of the park for me.

Symphonic Addict

The other day I was listening to this relatively recent CPO release. Bold, confident performances of two works whose moods are different each other.

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

Herman

That's a good combo, 146 and 118.

Jo498

This coupling was also done by Sabine Meyer and the Vienna Sextet but it has been long oop as a single disc, I think. There are many recordings of the clarinet quintet but far fewer of the sextet, so it is good to have another one available.
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

I also have a 1977 recording of the Sextet on Jecklin, by the socalled Kammermusiker Zürich.

There is reason to believe someone at Jecklin liked Max Reger.

JBS

Quote from: Jo498 on January 07, 2021, 12:27:02 AM
This coupling was also done by Sabine Meyer and the Vienna Sextet but it has been long oop as a single disc, I think. There are many recordings of the clarinet quintet but far fewer of the sextet, so it is good to have another one available.

The Sabine Mayer recording is part of Warner's Reger: Centenary Collection set.  The musicians in the Sextet are listed individually, but I would presume they are the Vienna Sextet you refer to.

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

Jo498

Yes, this centenary collection was the only re-issue I know of

[asin]B000005GM9[/asin]

MDG also has a disc of the same pieces with Villa Musica, they have all? of his chamber music for trio or larger, not sure about the solo and duo sonatas.

[asin]B001TN0VG0[/asin]
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

#248
The past weeks I have been listening to the Clarinet Quintet, op 146, a lot. It's Reger's last completed work, before he died at age 43.

I seem to have three recordings, Karl Leister and the Vogler Quartet; Sabine Meyer and members of the Vienna Sextet and Sharon Kam with Isabele van Keulen, Ulrike Anima Mathé, Volker Jacobsen and Gustav Rivinus. All are very good performances (although I have long ceased to be a fan of Leister), but at the moment I prefer the Kam recording, if only because they avoid at all times a cloying sound in the strings, which the Vogler Quartet don't always do. The Meyer / Vienna recording is perhaps the most routine / boring in this batch. I should get the new CPO recording with the Diogenes Quartet soon. Edit: I have opted for the Villa Musica on MDG instead.

The work is extraordinary. I rate it higher than the Brahms quintet, which I find playing into the soaring clarinet thing too much. Reger often lets the clarinet merge, if not submerge, in the strings. There is a lot of pp writing for the wind instrument. It goes both ways; in the Scherzo's Trio the upper strings play shimmery figures that make them sound like wind instruments.

It's also a work of radical (faux) simplicity for Reger. The Largo in E major has a lot of chromaticism after the opening bars in simple E major, however the lines never get clogged. It's intriguing to find that in the entire work motives reappear, particularly a three-note chromatic motiv that keeps driving all four movements. The simplicity climaxes, as it were, in the last variation in the finale, when the strings are reduced to rhythmic accompaniment for a dozen bars, just to give the clarinet one last song.

In spite of the apparent serenity there is a kind of impatience to op. 146. There are no exposition repeats, and in the variation finale there are no repeats either. Everything is over when it's over, and it's off to the next thing, which is quite devastating if one thinks it's Reger's valedictory work which he himself never got to hear. Another intriguing structural thing is the final variation movement is constructed on a vaguely incomplete sounding theme, seventeen bars long, instead of the eighteen bars you'd expect.

Herman

#249
I feel a little embarrassed about this, like I want to bump up the Reger topic.

However, I found this really good live vid of the Reger Clarinet Quintet and wanted to share it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOFJDuCRnwU

André

Quote from: Herman on January 25, 2021, 12:53:24 PM
I feel a little embarrassed about this, like I want to bump up the Reger topic.

However, I found this really good live vid of the Reger Clarinet Quintet and wanted to share it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOFJDuCRnwU

https://www.youtube.com/v=IOFJDuCRnwU

Thanks for that Herman. I feel chamber music greatly benefits from being seen as well as heard. I'll program this sometime later.

Herman

#251
The two violinists are a real pleasure to watch, they are almost polar opposites in their approach, and it works wonderfully.

calyptorhynchus

I've recently discovered the String Trio no.2. I'm not normally much of a Reger enthusiast, but this seems a very effective work. As it's a very late one I guess it's a product of his new simplicity.
'Many men are melancholy by hearing music, but it is a pleasing melancholy that it causeth.' Robert Burton

Symphonic Addict

Listening to the monumental String Quartet No. 3 in D minor. What a canvas of fine craft and counterpoint. This is music patiently and meticulously written, you really need to pay attention to how music unfolds and develops. Doesn't work like background music in the least. I think this kind of music is amazingly rewarding once the work is over. The almost-21-minute 1st movement (as played by this ensemble) could be taken like an independent string quartet itself.

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

André


Herman

Quote from: calyptorhynchus on January 25, 2021, 02:04:14 PM
I've recently discovered the String Trio no.2. I'm not normally much of a Reger enthusiast, but this seems a very effective work. As it's a very late one I guess it's a product of his new simplicity.

Yeah the late trio is a great work.

As noted before, I have been listening to Reger's valedictory Clarinet Quintet a lot, I would almost say, this year. And I have come to the conclusion that the Sharon Kam and friends (Isabelle van Keulen, Ulrike-Anime Mathe on violins) recording for Berlin is the one that satisfies me most. It's got the Brahms as coupling. This is a record I can recommend to everyone.
They avoid lacrimosity best, they have clearly thought about the piece a lot and the playing and recording is just stellar.
The Villa Musica sounds too rushed, in concept and execution, the same goes for Sabine Meyer and the Vienna people.
The Vogler Quartet with Karl Leister is very good, but just not as good as Sharon Kam c.s.

André

Quote from: Herman on February 27, 2021, 12:57:48 PM
Yeah the late trio is a great work.

As noted before, I have been listening to Reger's valedictory Clarinet Quintet a lot, I would almost say, this year. And I have come to the conclusion that the Sharon Kam and friends (Isabelle van Keulen, Ulrike-Anime Mathe on violins) recording for Berlin is the one that satisfies me most. It's got the Brahms as coupling. This is a record I can recommend to everyone.
They avoid lacrimosity best, they have clearly thought about the piece a lot and the playing and recording is just stellar.
The Villa Musica sounds too rushed, in concept and execution, the same goes for Sabine Meyer and the Vienna people.
The Vogler Quartet with Karl Leister is very good, but just not as good as Sharon Kam c.s.

I have this one lined up for listening some time in the coming weeks:




Mirror Image

Cross-posted from the "Purchases" thread:

Quote from: Mirror Image on May 06, 2022, 04:25:14 PM
I wanted to increase my knowledge about Max Reger, so I bought this 6-DVD set:



I'm curious if any other GMG members own this set? It contains three documentaries and tons of performances of selected works. Looking forward to diving into it as much as I am in revisiting the recordings I own of his music, which is actually more than I initially thought.

SonicMan46

Today I started listening to my 'modest' Reger collection, just 15 CDs at the moment (database list at bottom - click to enlarge) - eclectic mix of instrumental works - despite his short life (1873-1916), he was amazingly prolific (composition list HERE); looking on Amazon I see a 16-disc organ, 12-disc piano & 12-disc orchestral boxes, and many other selections.  I'm obviously gravitating to his chamber works, although I do have some solo piano and orchestral works.

I'm really not interested in the 'boxes' that would double my Reger collection (and sorry despite his reputation, organ is out for me) nor vocal works - BUT on Amazon, I've seen some String Trios, a Sextet (usually combine w/ the Clarinet Quintet which I already have 2 versions), even a guitar recording (assume transcriptions?) - so, would appreciate any suggestions that might add a couple more CDs to what I now own.  Thanks for comments.  Dave :)

P.S. have partially gone through the recordings below, now on the cello works.

   


JBS

Since you're not looking for a set, and some of this is stuff you're not looking for, I won't say get this set, but get whatever orchestral stuff you don't already have that's listed here.

I have the older 7 CD Berlin Classics set--almost all the same recordings are here, originally issued on Koch. I don't know what alternative recordings may exist.

I see you have the Droic SQ on DG; IIRC that has the String Quartets. If it doesn't, I'd suggest the CPO recording.

The Sextet is worth getting even if you have to get another recording of the Clarinet Quintet.

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk