Reger: Chorale Fantasias / Organ Pieces, Op. 59

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Cat No: 8555905

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Release Date: 10 January 2003

Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 747313590520

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: REGER

Description
Max Reger (1873-1916): Organ Works 4Chorale Fantasia on ,,Wie schon leucht uns der Morgenstern\Organ Pieces, Op. 59, Nos. 7-9 and 10-12 Introduction and Passacaglia in F minor, Op. 63 Chorale Fantasia on ,,Halleluja! Gott zu loben, bleibe meineSeelenfreud'!Max Reger owed his earlier interest in music to the exampleand enthusiasm of his father, a schoolmaster and amateur musician, and hisearly training to the town organist of Weiden, Adalbert Lindner. Reger was bornin 1873 at Brand in the Upper Palatinate, Bavaria. The following year thefamily moved to Weiden and it was there that he spent his childhood andadolescence, embarking on a course of training as a teacher when he leftschool. Lindner had sent examples of Reger's early compositions to his own formerteacher, Hugo Riemann, who accepted Reger as a pupil, at first in Sondershausenand then, as his assistant, in Wiesbaden. Military service, which affectedReger's health and spirits, was followed by a period at home with his parentsin Weiden and a continuing series of compositions, in particular for the organ,including a monumental series of chorale fantasias and other compositions,often, it seems, designed to challenge the technique of his friend KarlStraube, a noted performer of Reger's organ music.In 1901 Reger moved to Munich, where he spent the next sixyears. His position in musical life was in some ways an uneasy one, since hewas seen as a champion of absolute music and as hostile, at this time, toprogramme music, to the legacy of Wagner and Liszt. He was successful, however,as a pianist and was gradually able to find an audience for his music. Theperiod in Munich brought the composition of his Sinfonietta, of chamber music,and of fine sets of keyboard variations on themes by Bach and Beethoven,followed in later years by his well-known variations on a theme by Mozart.1907 brought a change in Reger's life, when he took theposition of professor of composition at the University of Leipzig, at a timewhen his music was reaching a much wider public. This was supported by his owndistinction as a performer and concert appearances in London, St Petersburg,the Netherlands, and Austria, and throughout Germany. In 1911 he was invited bythe Duke of Saxe-Meiningen to become conductor of the court orchestra, anensemble established by Hans von B??low and once conducted by Richard Strauss,at the outset of his career. Reger held this position until the beginning ofthe war, when the orchestra was disbanded, an event that coincided with his ownearlier intention to resign. He spent his final years based in Jena, butcontinuing his active career as a composer and as a concert performer. He diedin Leipzig in May 1916 on his way back from a concert tour of the Netherlands.The music of Max Reger has a special position in organrepertoire, and he is regarded by many as the greatest German composer of organmusic since Bach. A Cath
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