Max Reger: Variationen & Fuge über ein Bach-Thema op.81 on CD

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Reger's music is an amalgam of Bachian counterpoint and chromatic Romantic harmony—the result is writing of great density. This is particularly true of the ›Bach‹ Variations, Reger's piano masterpiece. Hamelin's superb virtuosity allows him to focus purely on the music, so keeping any sense of heaviness from infiltrating piano writing which, in other hands, can sound merely laboured.

The »Telemann« Variations are much less chromatic, more decorative, and as a result are much closer to the Baroque concept of »variation«. Their virtuosity is more obvious, with many opportunities for the soloist to display his fingerwork.

The Five Humoresques reveal Reger in lighter mode. Here the inspiration is surely from Brahms.

Rezensionen

»Others have courageously fought the cause of this complex and neglected repertoire but few, if any, have brought to it such compelling fusion of temperament, intellect, and prodigious pianistic fluency« (Gramophone)

»This is a marvellous disc« (BBC Music Magazine)

»An embarrassment of riches. This is absolutely first-rate playing. Quite simply this is a stunning recital« (The Scotsman)

»I was enthralled« (Classic CD)

Reviews

J.​ Otten in Scala 5/99: »Hamelin scheint der richtige Interpret, um die kontrapunktische Vielfalt transparent zu gestalten; er verfügt über eine staunenswerte Technik, die es ihm ermöglicht, die diversen Schichten in Regers Variationen-Werke freizulegen.​«
Rondo 4-5/99: ».​.​.​grandios und gewissenhaft.​ Wenn sich eine Größe wie Hamelin dieser Frühwerke annimmt, werden sie vielleicht endlich wiederentdeckt.​«