Max REGER (1873-1916)
Organ Works - Volume 11
Twelve Pieces Op.80 Nos. 1-6 and 9-12 [38:52]
Thirteen Chorale Preludes Op.79b [19:42]
Hans-Jürgen Kaiser (organ)
rec. Rieger-Sauer Organ of Fulda Cathedral, July 2010. Stereo. DDD
NAXOS 8.572466 [59:36]
The Naxos Reger organ music cycle must be approaching completion if it has
reached volume 11; not that it has been a cycle in any integrated sense. It
uses different organs and different organists throughout. Even so, it is an
admirable endeavour, and even though Reger struggles to find an audience in
the English-speaking world, respect for his music among organists runs high.
The programme here is made up of two sets. Opus numbers in the high 70s and
low 80s place these works around the beginning of the 20th century,
which for most of his composition career was a period of dense counterpoint
and experimental harmony. That said, there is little of either here. All the
works appear to have been written for liturgical use, and (unlike Messiaen)
Reger has no intention of challenging the musical tastes of the congregation.
There is chromaticism in the sense of chromatic descents in the pedals and
chromatically ascending sequences, but that's not the same as atonality. Even
so, just because the music is comfortable, that doesn't mean it is uninteresting.
Reger's flair for counterpoint is everywhere apparent, and he has a remarkable
feeling for what works well on the organ, to the extent that not a single
note seems wasted.
Reger only specifies the registers he has in mind for each movement, rather
than prescribing specific stops. Perhaps he is assuming that, given the gentle
character of most of this music, the organist will play it safe. That is certainly
what happens here. There are occasional loud moments, as at the end of Op.79b
No.11, but even here the choice of stops is quite conservative in terms of
the round sounds they produce. A little more contrast would have been nice
in the Chorale Preludes between the chorale theme, usually in the right hand,
and the counterpoint. Reger isn't Bach, much as he tried to imitate him; great
as his counterpoint is, it occasionally needs a helping hand.
The Rieger-Sauer organ in Fulda Cathedral is an older and creakier machine
than you'll usually find on organ recordings these days. It is also a huge
instrument, and the registration list takes up two pages of the liner. It
has some elegant colours, which are occasionally put to good use, but this
music would be equally, perhaps better, suited to a smaller instrument. The
organ has also caused the recording engineers some problems, and many of the
registers are strangely distant, as if they were hidden away at the very back
of a huge organ case, with no possibility of getting a microphone close. There
is little extraneous resonance from the church, which is a plus, but even
so the organ sound lacks clarity.
Does Reger's organ music deserve better than this? Many would say that if
you don't like the recording, the composer is as much to blame as anybody.
Even so, a little more precision and clarity would make all the difference
with many of these short works. Most of this music is well conceived and expertly
written, but it is going to take a recording with more impact than this one
to win the composer many new converts.
Gavin Dixon
It is going to take a recording with more impact than this one to win the
composer many new converts.