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Max REGER
(1873-1916)
CD 1
Four Tone Poems after Böcklin, Op. 128 (1912) [25:08]
Variations on a Theme of Hiller, Op. 100 (1907) [38:13]
CD 2
Psalm 100, Op. 106 (1910) [27:44]
Variations on a Theme of Mozart, Op. 132 (1914) [25:08]
Royal
Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam/Neeme Järvi (opp. 100, 128)
Russian State Symphonic Capella (Op. 106)
Russian State Symphony Orchestra/Valeri Polyansky (opp. 106, 132)
rec. 6-7 July 1989, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam (Järvi); December
2000, Grand Hall, Moscow Conservatory (Polyansky). DDD
BRILLIANT CLASSICS 8998 [66:50 + 59:45] |
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Max Reger was a prolific composer, but he also died young, at
the age of just 43. Because he was so productive there have
been many misconceptions about him, the kind of misconceptions
that generally are made before even a note of his music has
been heard. The unkindest jibe of all is the old one that his
music, like his name, sounds the same backwards or forwards.
Nothing could be further from the truth, and there could be
no better initiation into the rewards Reger's music can
offer than acquiring this attractive and keenly priced set of
two CDs.
Just a few years after Rachmaninov had written his masterly
tone poem inspired by the painter Arnold Böcklin, The
Isle of the Dead, Reger followed suit with his own set of
four tone poems. They can be played either singly or together
as a quasi-symphony. As such they each have their individual
personalities and are identified by two slower and two faster
tempo priorities. For example, Im Spiel der Wellen (The
Play of the Waves) is a scherzo, a movement which inevitably
invites parallels with Jeux de vagues (La Mer), having
a sparkling orchestral character which is remarkably similar
to Debussy's masterpiece. At the opposite remove Der
Toteninsel (The Isle of the Dead) was inspired by the same
painting as Rachmaninov's tone poem, and is a sensitively
drawn study of much tenderness of feeling. Taken as a group
or individually, these Böcklin pieces must rank among the
composer's finest achievements, and Järvi draws sensitive
performances from the Concertgebouw Orchestra.
Reger was fond of employing variation form, and he treats Ferdinand
Hiller's original theme to a sequence of eleven variations
and final fugue. The results are intriguing and satisfying on
every level, not least in terms of imaginative orchestration.
There is abundant inventiveness at every turn, from the extremes
of sparkling virtuosity and deeply felt eloquence, while the
closing fugue is astonishing. It is hard to imagine this music
being better served, either in performance or in recorded sound.
The first CD was originally issued in 1991 on Chandos CHAN 8794.
In some quarters Reger has been given a reputation as being
a 'difficult' composer, abounding in intellectual complexity
and therefore unapproachable. This is far from the case, as
the Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Mozart will testify.
The music derives from the familiar principal theme of the opening
movement of Mozart's Piano Sonata in A major, K331. Mozart himself
employed it as the basis of a variation movement, but since
his treatment is orchestral rather than solo, Reger can employ
a host of different options. Initially his priority seems to
be sheer beauty of orchestral sound, but as the music proceeds
so the subtleties develop, until the fugue is a veritable tour
de force of intellectual compositional rigour, a really
strong conclusion. Again the orchestral playing is excellent,
the Russian State Orchestra with their conductor Valeri Polyanski
responding to every opportunity Reger creates. While the recording
is not quite as detailed and atmospheric as that for Järvi
in Amsterdam, it is still successful in conveying the composer's
intentions and brings the listener satisfaction in its orchestral
colouring.
The performances of these two sets of variations compare favourably
with the alternatives, most particularly the Naxos CD (8.553079)
which couples them on a single disc from the New Zealand Symphony
Orchestra under Franz-Paul Decker. This too offers satisfactory
performances full of musical insights, but in the final analysis
does not have either the subtlety of playing or the quality
of recording to be found on this new Brilliant Classics compilation.
Much less well known than the other three compositions, Reger's
setting for chorus and orchestra of Psalm 100 is coupled
with the Hiller Variations in another performance from
Moscow. The textures are often heavy and dense, and the recorded
sound therefore does not avoid density. There are four movements
in this work from 1910, the first of them - 'Jauchzet
dem Herrn, alle welt' - having originally been written
two years previously in honour of the 350th anniversary
of the University of Jena. As befitted the occasion, this lively
movement at tempo Allegro abounds in vitality amid a
mood of celebration, while its successors in the final Psalm
100 version complete a quasi-symphonic sequence, akin to
Andante, scherzo and concluding Allegro.
As such Psalm 100 has a balanced overall shape which
brings musical satisfaction even though the choral-orchestral
presentation is at times somewhat unrelenting. Brilliant Classics
offer useful notes by Malcolm MacDonald, but no texts or translations.
This second disc first issued in 2002 can still be found at
full price as CHAN9917.
Terry Barfoot
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