Max REGER (1873-1916)
Clarinet Quintet in A major Op.146 (1909)
String Quartet in Eb major Op. 109 (1915)
Wenzel Fuchs (clarinet)
Philharmonia Quartett Berlin
Rec. 19th-22nd April 1999 Kleiner Sendesaal SFB,
Berlin.
NAXOS 8.554510
[72.18]
Crotchet AmazonUK
AmazonUS
Max Reger was a prolific composer, but he also died young, at the age of
just 43. The Clarinet Quintet, in fact, was his last completed work. The
fact that he was so prolific has led to many misconceptions about him,
misconceptions that generally are made before even a note of his music has
been heard. The unkindest jibe of all, of course, is the old joke that his
music, like his name, sounds the same backwards or forwards.
Nothing could be further from the truth, as this excellent Naxos disc will
testify. The Clarinet Quintet is an autumnal work, certainly inspired by
the example of Brahms, and cast in the same key as Mozart's Quintet. It stands
worthily alongside them both. If this claim seems extravagant, just listen
to the Reger's magical opening paragraph.
The role of the clarinet is never concertante in nature. Rather his preference
is to create a partnership of equals, a beautiful blending. The tone is intimate,
and this performance is wholly committed to his cause, with recorded sound
which is absolutely appropriate to chamber music.
The fourth of Reger's string quartets, composed in 1911, makes up the remainder
of the programme. The noted Reger enthusiast Lindsay Thomson has described
this as 'by far the finest of the composer's quartets', praising particularly
the slow movement as one of the best movements to be found in all Reger's
output. Again the performance is idiomatic and sensitive, and the recording
excellent. At the bargain Naxos price, there seems no reason for collectors
to hesitate.
Terry Barfoot
See also review by John France
