Reger: Organ Works Vol. 3

Weinberger, Gerhard

CPO 777729

Along with other chorale fantasias and chorale preludes, Vol. 3 of our edition of Max Reger's organ works presents his Twelve Pieces op. 59. These works composed during the summer of 1901 inaugurated Reger's series of composite works consisting of pieces moderating his otherwise so very high technical demands and intended for practical use in religious services. As in the later collections, so too here: already in op. 59, which opens with a prelude of free improvisational design, Reger operates with a bipolar generic type – here in the form of a virtuoso Toccata (No. 5) and a quiet Fugue (No. 6) intensifying solely in the dynamic sphere and complemented by movements resembling the character pieces at home in the piano music of the nineteenth century. Nos. 7 (»Kyrie«), 8 (»Gloria in excelsis Deo«), and 9 (»Benedictus, qui venit in nomine Domini«) refer to the Ordinary of the Mass and represent a special phenomenon here. While the »Kyrie« and »Benedictus« – as meditations on the content of the texts – likewise may be understood as character pieces, the »Gloria« and the concluding »Te Deum« rely on the corresponding Gregorian sources. These are the only works by Reger based on Gregorian melodies, which, however in no way evoke modal harmonic structures but are fully integrated into his complex harmonic structures.

SACD

CPO

5.05.2016

761203772926