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DDD Total Time = 73:26 / Recorded: Liebfrauenmünster, Ingolstadt, August 1996 Max Reger stands at the end of a development in the history of music, which had complicated the harmonic processes to such an extent that there was the danger of a subjective lack of orientation in the language of music. The listener can reach an understanding of Regerıs music through an uninhibited, inner experience of the fluctuating harmonics which constantly serve spiritual expression rather than through analytical examination. Regerıs often rapidly changing moods are described by his teacher and biographer Adalbert Lindner: "The defiant-titanic-demonic, the humorous-burlesque and the profound, those are the three tonic keynotes, the true, pure chords of Regers being and musicality". In 1898 Reger returned, inwardly shattered, from Wiesbaden to Weiden and turned his attention again, in the seclusion of his home town, stimulated by the organist Adalbert Lindner, increasingly towards the composition of organ works. Lindner remarked that Reger was intensively examining the protestant chorales during this period. Seven chorale fantasies were created in Weiden amongst which were the three chorale fantasies op.52 which Reger wrote in a time period of only 10 days! The fantasy of the chorale 'Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme' op.52/2 was composed by Reger in the second half of September 1900. The premiere performance took place through Karl Straube to whom the work is dedicated on 12th May 1901 in the old garrison church in Berlin. Karl Straube states that Reger described the slow introduction as ' graveyard'. The chorale melody of the first verse is 'the voice of an angel, the dead are gradually awakened. Dis-E-Dis in the pedal symbolises how they move in their graves'.Reger structures the second verse in two parts: the joyful mood of departure (Zion hoert die Waechter singen) contrasted with the richly ornamented Adagio (Nun komm,Du werte Kron) which forms the spiritual focal point of the work. The theme of the Fuge which ensues after a short pause intimates 'the dance of joy of an angel', in conclusion the chorale(3. verse) joins in as a counterpoint. The darkness of the grave and the radiant brightness of the hereafter which is gradually penetrated by the darkness characterise the antitheses of this symphonic fantasy. The chorale verse is: Sleeps, wake! a voice is calling, While slumber deep each eyelid sealeth: Awake, Jerusalem, awake! Midnightıs solemn hour is tolling, And seraph-notes are onward rolling; They call on us our part to take. Come forth ye virgins wise: The Bridegroom comes, arise! Alleluia! Each lamp be bright With ready light To grace the marriage feast to-night. Zion hears the voice that singeth, With sudden joy her glad heart springeth, At once she wakes, she stands arrayed: Her light is come, her Star ascending, Lo, girt with truth, with mercy blending, All hail! Godıs glorious Son, All hail! Our joy and crown, Allelulia! The joyfull call We answer all, And follow to the bridal hall. Praise to him who goes before us! Let man and agnels join in chorus, Let harp and cymbal add their sound. Twelve the gates, a pearl each portal- We haste to join the choir immortal Within the Holy Cityıs bound. Ear neıer heard aught like this, Nor heart conceived such bliss. Alleluia! We raise the sond, We swell the throng, To praise thee ages all along. The musical director of the church in Meininger at that time, August Koenig, assisted Reger with a number of church concerts which took place between July 1914 and January 1916 and which Reger always ended with a 'free organ closing section'. These improvisations were conducted in the manner of the Seven Pieces op.145 - Max Reger composed these during the winter of 1915/16 in Jena. Whilst in this connection Martin Weyer speaks of pieces 'which would have benefitted from not having been composed', because in comparison to the great chorale fantasies they have the effect of 'a dull second rehash', Hermann Keller, considered the main authority, sees evidence of a serene late style in Regers comparatively simple movement without full chords: 'I would like to strongly recommend this opus to all organists; it clearly demonstrates the path that Reger would have continued to follow, and what we could have expected from him!' To what extent his personal experience of World War 1 influenced Regerıs style is frequently and hotly debated in the literature. Regerıs Opus 145 cycle is "dedicated to the fallen soldiers of the war from 1914 - 1915". Weihnachten op.145/3 is an atmospheric variation on the chorales Es kommt ein Schiff geladen and Ach was soll ich Suender machen. In contrast to this stands the chorale Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her into which Reger elaborately and contrapunctually weaves Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht. The registration instructions elucidate the heart of the Christian Christmas message: the darkness of an unredeemed humanity is penetrated by the light of divine promise. Reger had additionally received repeated advice to write more simply from his former teacher Hugo Riemann whom the young composer informed in 1900: 'You write that I should write more simply. That tells me everything! Everywhere it is said - that it is too difficult, too complicated! etc! And my music seems so simple, so clear to me! Only my friend Straube rejoices, when he receives something so tough.' Following the show of strength of op.57, which many interpreters and critics denied their fealty, not only Karl Straube is relieved by the simpler, playable and comprehensible Second Sonate d-Minor op.60 which shows a considerable number of performances to date. In stark contrast to op.52 and 57, Karl Straube lastingly defends this work in announcements of the publishers Leuckart: it places less emphasis on the 'titanic' but has a simple prevailing mood, 'which finds its perfect expression in the tremendously ingenious, brilliantly arranged final fuge. The Adagio is incomparably beautiful.'Max Regers Second Sonate op.60 was written in November and December 1901 in Munich. Its premiere performance was on 11 May 1902 by Hermann Dettmer at the Dom zu Merseberg. Reger dedicated the work to Professor Martin Krause 'in gratitude'. Krause was Theinbergerıs successor in organ playing at the Munich Academy. Reger encountered the genre of the modern organ sonate in the works of Joseph Rheinberger, Karly Wolfrum and Joseph Renner, whom he also approached in the movement headings. Mendelssohnıs sonatas, which Reger had once played himself, could no longer serve him as a model. Reger, together with Adalbert Lindner, was of the opinion that Œthe transposition of the old form of the piano chamber sonate to the organ with the lyrical-amorous peripheral theme of the first movement and the song-like, Adagio or Largo which again express purely subjective feelings and the Rondo of the finale would be impossibleı. In the first movement of the Second Sonate op.60, Reger follows Œa more seemingly extemporized idea in which he alternates counterpoint sections with lyrical atmospheric imagory. All sections develop in the Crescendo, end with half clefs and so create a constant restlessnessı (Hans Haselboeck). If the form scheme exposition-implementation-recapitulation was true for the classical shaping of the sonate, with Reger the exposition already embodies the character of implementation: the thematic material is divided and grouped together anew. The three quiet sections appear formally structured. The actual implementation is concisely phrased. The second movement (Grave con duolo) is also structured in three sections. A painful invocation, revealed through an expressive melody in wandering harmonies, intensifies in the allegro section to writhing despair. Typical for Reger is the effect of the rapid dynamic disintegration of the powerful energies. The darkness finally penetrates the chorale Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her - here rather in the symbolic meaning of a celestial element, which outshines the depths of human subjectivity. The introduction of the third movement bears a scherzo-character, it episodically summons the themes of the previous movements and in anticipation prepares the final fuge. The tripartite fuge (Allegro energico) begins with a traditional implementation of the theme. A staccato motif creates the connection to the virtuoso middle section in triplet movements, before the recurrent fuge theme contrapunctually and elaborately brings about the final intensification. Regers Symphonic Fantasy and Fuge op.57, written circa 1901 in Weiden/Oberpfalz, is virtually unimaginable without the deep emotional shock which the composer experienced during this time. The expression 'symphonic' in the title of the magnificent work points to orchestral ideas of form and sound. In fact it is frequently cited that op.57 exceeds the possibilities of the organ and was originally thought of in orchestral terms. Reger had planned a concert for organ and orchester since the summer of 1900, the often cited, subsequently never realised project of a symphony can be considered in this connection. Whilst the contemporary music critics had mostly judged Regers previous organ works benevolently, dismay and rejection increase dramatically following op.57. What Regers himself, who thought highly of his op.57, ironically terms 'harmonic wanderings' which he could 'theoretically' explain at any time, borders for Otto Lessmann, who was present at a performance of the work by Karl Straube in 1903 at the German-Swiss meeting of sound artists in Basel, on 'ear-piercing cacophony'. Lessmann continues: ' We must wait to see whether Reger continues along the path he has taken with this work and enriches the aesthetics surrounding the musically ugly or whether this involves a temporary digression of his phantasy into regions in which ugliness gains validity as a characteristic of artistic expression'. The Munich music critic Rudolf Louis speaks in a similar vein and 'already anticipates the style of the Feuilleton with which he will treat the innovations of Schoenberg 10 years later' (H.Wilske,S.124). Reger carries chromaticism as the principal of expression to extremes in the Symphonic Fantasy and Fuge op.57, and a steady harmonic functional centre is barely recognisable. Formally the Fantasy corresponds with a type of form of movement of a sonate: the first theme is created from two chromatic descending steps, the second an expressive triplet motif, occur in a quiet, contrasting piano section. A large-scale instensification which follows combines both themes and joins the expansive Adagio section, prior to the entrance of the recapitulation which is intensified in contrast to the beginning. The preceeding fugue resembles, following the interpretation of Heinz Wunderlich, a symphony with 4 movements; a lead movement (1.theme), Adagio (2.theme), Scherzo (Elements of 1.and 2. theme) and Finale (Unification of both themes). The deeply fissured unruliness of this unprecedented confessional music has brought op.57 the name 'Inferno-Fantasy'. On 18th August Reger writes to the bearer of the dedication Gustav Beckmann 'Opus 57 was inspired by Dantes "Inferno"!. That should tell you all you need to know; opus 57 is probably the most difficult of all my works for the organ. I can tell you no more about it as I am reluctant to provide a 'programme' for my things'. As Hartmut Haupt explains, Dantes work describes 'in its three parts Inferno-Purgatorio-paradiso, in the metaphor of the pilgrimage through the three kingdoms of the hereafter Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, ultimately the drama of the human soul alienated from God but searching for God, which proceeds through the punishment of hell and purification to salvation'. The following verses most probably preoccupied Reger: Wehe euch, verworfene Seelen, wehe! Nicht hoffet je zu seh das Paradeis; Hinueber bring ich euch zum andern Strande, In ewige Finsternis, in Glut und Eis! Karl Straube, who gave the first performance of the work on 20th February 1902 in the old garrison church in Berlin, is said to have required 25 minutes for the rendition while in 1904 the bearer of the dedication Gustav Beckmann played the work a few minutes faster, as the reviews almost triumphantly emphasised. Certainly, despite a number of crises, Straube acted as the champion of Regers music throughout his life, he was one of the few friends with whom Reger did not become estranged. Reger is said to have uncritically trusted his advice. Nevertheless it is difficult today to describe Straube with his frequent modifications of the prescribed tempi as the authentic interpreter of Reger. Page revised 27.06.03 |
