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MAX REGER: Comp. Works for Clarinet & Piano – Robert Oberaigner, clar./Michael Schöch, p. – MD&G Scenes

MAX REGER: Comp. Works for Clarinet & Piano – Robert Oberaigner, clar./Michael Schöch, p. – MD&G Scenes

by | Aug 30, 2016 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews

Another nice addition to the growing Reger renaissance. MAX REGER “Complete works for Clarinet and Piano” = MAX REGER: Sonata No.1 in A-flat major, Op.49/1; Sonata No. 2 in F-sharp minor, Op. 49/2; Sonata in B-flat major, Op.107; Tarantella; Album Leaf – Robert Oberaigner, clarinet/Michael Schöch, p. – MD&G Scene MDG 903 1963-6, 79:33 (8/05/16) [Distr. by E1] ****: This is the third album of Max Reger’s complete music for clarinet and piano I have seen and heard these past six months. Clearly the somewhat obscure and somewhat irascible early twentieth century German composer is having a bit of a Renaissance; including recent releases of his choral and organ output and some very rare orchestral music. This is good because Reger was a very fine and somewhat daring composer whose main barriers to further renown were his own criticism of his works; hiding and sequestering them in some cases for years and that documented prickly personality. Interestingly, his clarinet music was always among his best known output; of those many works, the two sonatas written as the opus forty-nine pair are the best known and most often performed. This is for good reason. Those two works are masterpieces of swirling […]

“MASTERPIECES IN MINIATURE” Works of LITOLFF, MAHLER, DELIBES, DVORAK, DELIUS, GRIEG & others – SF Sym./MTT – SF Media

“MASTERPIECES IN MINIATURE” Works of LITOLFF, MAHLER, DELIBES, DVORAK, DELIUS, GRIEG & others – SF Sym./MTT – SF Media

by | Aug 8, 2016 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews

Classical gems vividly played and beautifully recorded. “MASTERPIECES IN MINIATURE” = LITOLFF: Scherzo from Con. symphonique No. 4; MAHLER: Blumine; FAURE: Pavane; DEBUSSY: La Plus que lente; SCHUBERT: Entr’acte No. 3 from Rosamunde; IVES/BRANT: The Alcotts from A Concord Symphony; RACHMANINOFF: Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14; DVORAK: Legend for Orchestra, Op. 59, No. 6; SIBELIUS: Valse triste; DELIUS: On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring; GRIEG: The Last Spring, Opus 34, No. 2; DELIBES: Cortege de Bacchus from Sylvia—Yuja Wang, piano/SF Sym./Michael Tilson Thomas – multichannel SACD, SFMedia 821936-0060-2, 78:08, *****: What’s the role of the symphony orchestra in the 21st century? “It’s a preserve for endangered emotions, such as wistfulness,” answered Michael Tilson Thomas, the Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony, in an interview at the 2015 Music Critics Conference of North America. Masterpieces in Miniature is a disc loaded with emotions that music is uniquely qualified to express: the exhilarating speed of a virtuosic performance; sensuous refinement; nostalgic memories; lush romanticism; a remorseful farewell to life, to name a few. This album celebrates MTT’s 70th birthday and the twentieth anniversary of his tenure as conductor of the San Francisco Symphony. Its inspiration derives from his earliest memories […]