Max Reger: Requiem op.144b auf CD

Musik voll tiefer Emotionen
Der Kammerchor Consortium singt vielfältige und expressive Chorwerke von Max Reger, in denen dieser sich von den Dichtern der deutschen Romantik inspirieren ließ. Wie stark dieser Einfluss war, zeigt beispielsweise sein Requiem op. 144b, das keine lateinische Totenmesse, sondern die Vertonung eines Gedichts des Dramatikers Friedrich Hebbel ist. Regers vielseitige Chorwerke sind von tiefen Emotionen geprägt, die den Glauben an die Schöpfung und eine höhere Macht erkennen lassen.

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A second disc from new chamber choir Consortium, who were acclaimed for their disc of Brahms’s secular partsongs.

Although Reger’s music has partly recovered from its deeply unfashionable reputation, much of this prolific composer’s work still remains underperformed. This disc offers a chance to redress the balance, both by bringing to light an aspect of Reger’s output that has been relatively neglected, and by demonstrating that the important influences on him were not just musical but literary. Like his near contemporaries, Mahler, Strauss, Wolf and Zemlinsky, Reger responded deeply and imaginatively to the German Romantic poetic tradition. The works recorded here set many of the same poets (and even some of the same poems) that were popular among his colleagues, with a sensitivity and intuitive understanding that belie Reger’s reputation for stodgy academicism. Richard Stokes’s comment, that ‘Reger does not always lose out in comparison’ (when he and Strauss set the same texts as Lieder), could apply equally well to his choral music.

Rezensionen

'Reger's choral music, like so much of his output, is too little known. So Consortium's new disc … is to be warmly welcomed … I found this disc most enjoyable … The recording is of Hyperion's customary excellence, with performances to match' (Choir & Organ Magazine)

'A wonderful disc this, and a testament to yet another undervalued dimension of the artistry of Max Reger. Very few of the common complaints about Reger's music apply here: the music is consistently inspired, often light, elegant and wholly free from the stodginess that blights so many of his organ works' (MusicWeb. com)

'If there are still a few timid souls out there who fear Max Reger's music as dark forests of gnarled and knotty chromatic counterpoint, here's the CD to conquer their prejudices … These wistful, autumnal choral works caress the ear and the soul' (International Record Review)