The German-based choral
specialist label Carus are to be heartily
congratulated for releasing a fine second
volume in their series of Reger’s Sacred
Choral Works.
Unaccompanied choral
music, as illustrated by the small amount
of concert performances and the sizeable
number of deletions from the catalogue
remains unfashionable and has been so
for many decades. Choral works from
the prolific Bavarian-born Reger and
particularly from his fellow-countrymen,
Brahms, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Schumann
et al, were perennial favourites
of provincial choral societies in many
European countries. This continued until
the outbreak of the First World War
when an intensely hostile reaction against
things German set in. Fortunately enterprising
record companies such as Carus are doing
sterling work making this rarely heard
music available to a wider audience.
Over his relatively
short life-span of forty-three years
Max Reger wrote a substantial quantity
of music which spanned many genres.
Sadly his choral works and songs are
not commonly performed today. However
Reger enjoys an extremely high reputation
among organists to whose repertoire
he made significant contributions. Additionally
he wrote many important works for the
cello of which the Three Suites for
Solo Cello, Op. 131 are particularly
well regarded.
Increasingly Reger’s
orchestral music is becoming more numerous
in the record catalogues, particularly
with works such as the: Four Tone
Poems after Böcklin Op. 128;
Variations and Fugue on theme of
Hiller Op. 100; Variations and
Fugue for Orchestra on a Theme by Mozart,
Op. 132 and the Variations and
Fugue on a Theme of Beethoven (1915).
Among the choral compositions
are the eight Geistliche Gesänge.
These are considered to be especially
moving. Composed in 1900 the Sieben
geistliche, Volkslieder is for four-part
mixed choir as a pure a-cappella
setting. Also from 1900 the Drei
Choralbearbeitungen fur Weihnachten,
Neujahr, Epiphanias, Op. 79g is
for three-part chorus. The folk song
inspired and ambitious Zwolf deutsche
geistliche Gesänge are for
mixed choir for 5-8 parts. Throughout
these rarely heard and attractive scores
the long established NDR Chor of Hamburg
under the direction of Hans-Christoph
Radmann offer commendable performances
which are high on expression and abundant
in joy.
The Carus engineers
are to be congratulated on providing
a natural and well-balanced sound quality.
Now the bad news! Although the booklet
notes are in English, Carus have not
found it necessary to include English
translations of the German texts which
are so essential in choral music. This
marketing practice is regrettable; listeners
deserve better. Furthermore the concise
and reasonably informative booklet notes
include a number of grammatical and
spelling errors which may irritate some
purchasers.
Lovers of late-Romantic
choral music will find considerable
rewards in these rarely heard scores.
A satisfying release of attractive works
well performed and decently recorded!
Michael Cookson
NDR Chor Hamburg/Hans-Christoph Rademann 