Search - Max Reger, Markus Becker :: Reger: Cello Sonatas

Beautiful New Issue of the Complete Reger Cello Sonatas~Rare

Sébastien Melmoth | Hôtel d'Alsace, PARIS | 03/12/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

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While Sebastain Bach wrote three Cello Sonatas, it was Beethoven's five which really brought the genre into the Romantic/post-Romantic era. Brahms constructed two, and Strauss added an early one contemporaneously with Brahms (1883); Bruckner and Mahler, nix.



So it was Reger who really assumed the mantel of Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms, bringing the genre of Cello Sonata into Modernism (at least in Germanic lands) eventually passing the torch to Hindemith. (Some French and Russian artists also produced works in the form.)



While similar to the genre of Violin Sonata, the Cello Sonata presents its own difficulties due to the tessitura of the larger stringed instrument: it can sound screechy in its top register and murky in its lower; moreover, the voice of the cello is easily lost within the timbre of the piano, so the form presents more challenges of balance and clarity to the composer. Reger apparently enjoyed the callenge and wrote four major Cello Sonatas which span his career.



These excellent and highly refined chamber works feature Reger's calling-card characteristics: (I) bold harmonic thinking; (II) liveliness; (III) formidable technical finish; (IV) quirky humour; (V) contrapuntal complexity; and (VI) elegant melodic design.



Reger employs some his favourite Italianate movement descriptions: maestoso ma appassionato; gran affetto; con brio; agitato; energico; con gran espressione, etc.



The works (like all Reger's chamber works) are generally book-ended with Allegro-type movements which bracket inner movements of extreme tempi--highly pressurized Prestississimos and Vivacissimos are grotesquely and arabesquely contrasted with below pulse-rate Largos.



Reger's well of inspiration ran deep: movement timings approach :10mins+ in duration.



Four large-boned Art Nouveau Sonatas:



Op. 5, f-minor (1892);

Op. 28, g-minor (1898);

Op, 78, F-major (1904);

Op. 116, a-minor (1910).



See too:

Bach: The Three Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord

Beethoven: The Music for Cello and Piano

Brahms: Sonatas for Cello and Piano

Pfitzner/Strauss/Hindemith: Cellosonatas

Chopin, Strauss: Sonates pour violoncello et piano

Fauré: Complete Works for Cello

Gabriel Pierné: La Musique de Chambre, Vol. 2

Debussy: Sonata for violin in Gm; Sonata for flute & viola L137

Fauré, Franck, Debussy: Cello Sonatas

The 20th-Century Cello

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Beautiful recording of rarely-heard works

OCD CD Collector | Nashville, TN USA | 06/02/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I agree with the Riviera's scholarly and informative review. However, he neglects to mention that the Sonatas are separated by three suites for solo cello (Op. 131, Nos. 1-3), which are similarly delightful. Altogether an outstanding two-disc set, which I have listened to many times. Expensive, but as is usual with Hyperion, the production values and the booklet are first-rate, as is the musicianship."