Max Reger: Complete Works For Organ

Description

rousing
Max Reger's complete organ works, now reissued in the "Preziosa" series, are among the editorial feats that have become a hallmark for MDG. In its early years, the label would hardly have dared to undertake such a mammoth project had it not been for the initiative of an important sponsor. The 14-CD recording with Rosalinde Haas at the Albiez organ in Frankfurt-Niederrad set new standards - also due to the organist's passionate playing style, which radically shook the dust off the Reger tradition.

radical
Reger and his friend Karl Straube could not agree on the tempo even then: the experienced organ virtuoso preferred a more measured tempo, which opposed Reger's impetuousness. Haas, on the other hand, takes Reger and his tempo markings at their word - and shortens many a work usually regarded as expansive by half...

refined
The Albiez organ in Niederrad, with its mechanical action, is ideally suited for playing fast - far better than the pneumatic instruments that were just emerging in Reger's day. This skilful attribute allows for extremely colourful registration, which Haas knows how to use with witty humour: "O dass ich tausend Zungen hatt" ("Oh if I had a thousand tongues") is befittingly registered with reed voices (which Reger would have called "Zungenstimmen")

refreshing
After only two recording sessions, the sponsor turned out to be bankrupt. Nevertheless, with considerable effort the project continued; two albums with Bach arrangements were even added as an encore. An exceptional, one-of-a-kind project which has had a lasting influence on how Max Reger and his organ works are perceived.