Search - Max Reger, Drolc Quartet :: Reger: The String Quartets; Clarinet Quintet

First-Rate Reger Performances

T. Beers | Arlington, Virginia United States | 09/01/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Deutsche Grammophon recorded this cycle of the five Reger string quartets and the clarinet quintet in the late '60s/early '70s. Inexplicably, only the clarinet quintet was released on Lp in the US. Since then, only the Leipzig Quartet (on MDG) has presented the cycle with anything like the consistent quality achieved by the Drolc Quartet. In fact, recordings of any of the Reger quartets have been few and far between, probably reflecting Reger's continued reputation as a difficult and charmless composer of turgidly contrapuntal music. Truth to tell, there are moments in each quartet that support that unfair characterization, but there are many more moments of heart-rending beauty that demonstrate Reger's late Romantic genius. Hindemith, Weill, Schoenberg, Berg and Webern all admired and learned from Reger's accomplishment, which amounts to a fusion of Wagnerian chromatic harmony with Brahmsian devotion to working in closed formal structures, particularly sonata and fugue. The first two published quartets (preceded by a student quartet that survives in manuscript) are rather obviously modelled after the two Op. 51 quartets by Brahms; Reger reaches maturity with the Third, Fourth and Fifth quartets. The Third is the most immediately attractive, containing a gorgeous theme and variations slow movement that recalls Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" Quartet. The Fourth and Fifth quartets are more formally adventurous and represent Reger's real contribution to the genre. Although Romantic in expression, their pared-back textures and transparent counterpoint clearly anticipate modernist Neo-Classic essays by Hindemith, Weill and others. Make no mistake, these final quartets are a major achievement, but all five will provide great satisfaction to any lover of chamber music. Finally, the gloriously autumnal clarinet quartet: Even Reger's sharpest critics acknowledge this final chamber composition (completed shortly before the composer's death in 1916, at age 46) to be a great and noble masterpiece, worthy to be set beside the quintets of Mozart and Brahms. It is splendidly presented by the Drolc Quartet joined by a young Karl Leister, who has gone on to record the piece at least four more times, never more beautifully than here. Anyone who remembers Deutsche Grammophon's Lps of the period already knows that the (analog) sound quality in this set is first-rate; at the asking price, the set is a steal. If pressed, I might admit a preference now and then for the Leipzig Quartet/MDG CDs. They are, however, only available singly and cost much more. All in all, this Drolc Quartet series is the happiest way to become acquainted with this wonderful music. Final word: snatch up this gem before it disappears, perhaps forever."

A magnificent achievment

G.D. | Norway | 02/16/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is an invaluable release and a must for anyone with even the remotest interest in late romantic chamber music. Yes, it is true that Reger's textures can be a little dense and, well, indigestible at times, but I still claim that the chamber works on this set are worthy of comparison with (though not eclipsing) Brahms's, say. This is in short magnificent music, and it is almost scandalous that it isn't better known (although I surmise that the vast scale of several of them contributes to the hesitancy of performers and audiences, as do Reger's not quite warranted reputation for dry, contrapuntal density). The recordings date from between 1969 and 1971 but haven't been generally available for a very long time at least (apart from the clarinet quintet),



At least the clarinet quintet - Reger's last opus number - has received a number of recordings. It is a lovable, friendly swansong and at 34 minutes in fact one of his more concentrated chamber works. The level of invention and imagination is high throughout, and particularly impressive is how Reger weaves his superb themes in and out of various imaginative string textures (Reger also succeeds in making the clarinet part of the ensemble rather than a solo instrument standing against the string quartet). Both the overall mood and the style bring one's thought to Brahms's work in the same genre - in fact even the thematic material is related (Brahms's use of the falling third is conspicuously utilized by Reger). Karl Leister has delivered more than one recording of the work and is an ideal performer, with a gentle, warm tone always sensitive to the textures and colors of the ensemble as a whole (but also able to impress as a soloist when needed). The Drolc quartet - for whom this recording was also a swansong, sort of - plays with richness and finesse.



As they do in the other works in the set. I hasten to add that my familiarity with competing versions is limited (I have heard neither the Bern quartet nor the Mannheim quartet). The Drolc's tempos tend towards the moderate, and while I could possibly imagine more excitement being whipped up in the scherzi, the outer movements and slow movements are generally gorgeous, providing fresh breaths of air and clarity in the denser passages. The performances are never overly lingering - in fact, the interpretive choices come across as exactly right almost all the time. Clearly, the players are thoroughly inside the idiom and obviously thoroughly prepared - no technical blemishes and always songful lines and imaginative, magnificent phrasings.



As for the music itself, the later quartets are the more accessible - they are less contrapuntally dense and easier to follow. They are also far longer than the op. 54 ones, say. That is not to say that the op. 54 quartets are, in the end, inferior works; rather, it seems that Reger took the consequence of having so much to say later on, and dared to take the time needed to say it instead of concentrating it into too little space (the op. 109 is thus probably the most popular of Reger's quartets, and there is, indeed, a clear reason for that). The op. 54 pieces do, I admit, come across as well-neigh impenetrable at times, but it is still definitely worth the effort of trying to come to grips with them. Stylistically, the music is always indebted to Bach, but the early works sometimes sound like a cross between Beethoven, Brahms and Richard Strauss - in the later work Mozart and Haydn are added to the list of influences.



The sound quality is very good, if perhaps a tad dry - yet clear and well-balanced, never occluding the textures. In short, this is an almost essential release, urgently recommended to anyone who even wonders whether they might like this music."