This Jecklin-Disco release should help
dispel a few myths. There remain widely-held
critical misconceptions that Reger’s
music uses only limited resources of
harmony and rhythm, is over-elaborate
and too densely scored. Far from being
over-heavy in texture and challengingly
complex, his music can be immensely
stimulating and packed with tonal colour.
Recordings such as this are assisting
Reger’s gradual rehabilitation back
to prominence in the German Romantic
school.
Over his relatively
short life-span of forty-three years
Reger wrote a substantial quantity of
music in virtually all the genres apart
from opera, concentrating principally
on keyboard and smaller-scale works.
Although Reger successfully wrote some
larger choral works he was in his thirties
before he completed his first orchestral
work. Among choral compositions the
eight Geistliche Gesänge
are considered especially moving, but
his vocal works are not commonly performed
today. Reger does however enjoy an extremely
high reputation among organists to whose
repertoire he made many 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.
The orchestral music is slowly becoming
more numerous in the record catalogues
and it is possible to track down recordings
of 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. 123 and the Variations
and Fugue on a Theme of Beethoven (1915).
The years between 1905
and 1908 were a highly successful time
for Reger’s career. He had become the
most performed composer in Germany next
to Richard Strauss and was the recipient
of several prestigious appointments
and awards: Professor of counterpoint,
composition and organ at the Munich
Academy of Music; University Music Director
and Conservatory Professor at the University
of Leipzig, Honorary Doctorate at the
University of Jena and bestowed the
esteemed title of Royal Saxon Professor.
The single work on
this Jecklin-Disco release is the extended
four movement Trio for Piano, Violin
and Cello in E minor, Op. 102. A
score widely admired during his lifetime,
Reger composed this "rugged
masterpiece" in 1908. The E
minor Piano Trio is full of audacious
modulations and striking dramatic gestures
and together with the Piano Concerto,
which appeared two years later, represents
a culmination of the complex but highly
evolved style that Reger had developed.
The first movement
of the Trio, marked allegro
moderato ma con passione, is lengthy
at sixteen and a half minutes. The allegro
comprises a vast array of melodic
contours, chromatic harmony and rhapsodic
figures. But behind all this there is
a remarkable discipline of thematic
and formal sonata structure although
laid out on large symphonic lines. The
talented players, who choose not to
give a name to their ensemble, perform
this movement with characterful expression.
There is especially fine work from the
violinist Christine Ragaz, to whom Reger
gives the lion’s share of the work.
The rather strange short second movement
allegretto is an eerie, airy
piece on the line between sardonic humour
and a spectral world. The inherent mysteriousness
of this appealing fairytale-like movement
is brought out in a confident and spontaneous
manner.
The extended third
movement largo is reminiscent
of the ‘Hermit with the Violin’
from Reger’s Four Tone Poems
after Böcklin,
Op.128. The hymn-like largo
is in the style of a Reger organ prelude
and sounds at times as if it could have
been written by Brahms. The movement
alternates between a three-phased chorale
and more agitato sections whose
harmonies hark back to the opening movement.
The chorale has the last word
and ends one of Reger’s most seraphic
pages. This is superbly sensitive and
expressive playing from artists who
perform with dream-like delicacy. The
dynamic closing movement allegro
has been described by John Buttrick
as, "a hybrid of scherzo, burleske
and serious business." The
movement is bursting with ideas. With
beautifully judged shaping of phrasing
and dynamics the Trio demonstrate their
empathy with this strongly individual
music.
There is a fine alternative
account of the Piano Trio, Op.
102 c/w Piano Trio in B minor,
Op.2 performed by the Trio Parnussus
on Dabringhaus und Grimm MDG Gold 30307512.
This Jecklin-Disco
release is poorly presented. The four
movements are not divided into separate
tracks. There is only limited information
provided about the recording and the
total timing is an ungenerous forty-two
minutes. On the positive side, the sound
quality is of a decent standard with
an especially good balance, and the
booklet notes from John Buttrick are
informative. The Trio perform this impressive
music beautifully in what seems like
a inspiring labour of love.
An excellent Reger
score really well performed.
Michael Cookson
Website
Anyone interested in learning more about
Reger should visit the splendid website:
http://www.maxreger.com/Rec_idx.htm
Christine Ragaz, violin 
for
details
