The seven chorale fantasias can safely be placed among Reger's finest achievements, certainly within the area of organ music. In particular, the Op. 40 and Op. 52 sets show a sustained level of expression, formal innovation and technical mastery that are arguably matched in 19th-century organ music only by the Trois Chorales of Franck or the Ad Nos of Liszt. Formally the fantasias fall into two types: those concluded by fugues whose subjects eventually combine with the chorale (Wie Schön, Wachet auf, Hallelujah! Gott) and those through-composed. The former scheme provides a more obvious means of closure; yet a scheme such as that of Straf'mich nicht or Alle Menschen, in which negativity and chromatic turbulence is gradually subsumed into an irresistibly positive tonal apotheosis, is no less involving. Despite their often strong structural grounding (and Reger's polemic stance in favour of 'absolute music' this is programme music of great vividness, not so much in the literary manner of Liszt or Strauss as of Bach's cantatas, with their intense spiritual feeling and graphic word-painting.
The Seven Pieces Op. 145 are almost the last music Reger wrote, some months before his death in 1916 (only the Clarinet Quintet is later).They occupy an unusual place in his output, since three of them (Traurode, Dankpsalm and Siegesfeier) are patriotic in tone (either elegiacally or triumphally) and the others seasonal. Yet the collection posses more coherence than such a combination might suggest, in particular a somewhat equivocal tone; and his is matched by other works of the period. The Op. 145 pieces also function in various ways as miniature chorale fantasias, hence their presence in this CD set - in particular the popular Dankpsalm can only be properly understood in relation to its sombre predecessor, with which it shares common material. The keys of the collection are closely linked, with a grouping around D.
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