Search - Max Reger, Franz-Paul Decker, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra :: Max Reger: Mozart Variations and Fugues; Mozart Variations Op. 132 / Hiller Variations Op. 100

Great pieces, good price

Frederick T. Williams | San Francisco, CA United States | 04/21/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Although I am an afficianado of turn of the century late romantic orchestral music by the likes of Mahler, Strauss and Bruckner, I was pretty unfamiliar with the work of Max Reger until I heard selections from his Mozart Variations when it was used as the background music in a stage play. Although Reger has a reputation as being difficult, complex and unlistenable, I found this music immediately appealing, even hauntingly beautiful. The piece is based on the familiar theme of the opening movement of Mozart's Piano Sonata in A major, K.331, which Mozart himself uses as the basis for a set of variations. (The A major sonata is perhaps more famous for its last movement, the Rondo alla Turca.) Reger first presents the theme fairly "straight," albeit beautifully orchestrated, and then takes it through a set of delightful variations culminating in an pretty incredible fugue in the style of Bach, ending in a mighty climax on a tonic pedal-point provided by the timpani. I find the piece bears repeated listenings and only becomes increasingly enjoyable each time.

This particular recording of the Reger orchestral variations features both that composer's variations on the Mozart theme and his earlier orchestral variations on a theme by the little known 18th century composer Johann Adam Hiller. It is every bit as charming as the Mozart Variations. The recording is very attractively priced, and both the performances and the sound quality are excellent. This recording makes an ideal introduction to Reger's works, and should be purchased by anyone interested in listening to beautiful late Romantic orchestral music."