MAX REGER

Bach Piano Transcriptions Volume 7

The Complete Reger Transcriptions

 

CD 1

Prelude and Fugue in D major BWV532 1 Prelude [5'26]

2 Fugue [6'19]

3 O Mensch, bewein’ dein’ Sünde gross BWV622 [6'26]

4 Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt BWV637 [1'52]

5 Ach wie nichtig, ach wie flüchtig BWV644 [0'56]

6 Nun danket alle Gott BWV657 [4'14]

7 Herzlich tut mich verlangen BWV727 [1'46]

8 Wenn wir in höchsten Noten sein BWV668 [3'22]

9 Valet will ich dir geben BWV736 [3'35]

10 Es ist das Heil uns kommen her BWV638 [1'52]

11 Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier BWV730 [2'06]

12 Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her BWV606 [0'41]

Prelude and Fugue in E flat major ‘St Anne’ BWV552

13 Prelude [8'38]

14 Fugue [6'42]

 

CD 2

Prelude and Fugue in E minor ‘The wedge’ BWV548 1 Prelude [7'35]

2 Fugue [8'53]

3 PACHELBEL attrib. BACH Christ lag in Todesbanden BWV ANH 171 [4'05]

4 Ich ruf’ zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ BWV639 [2'48]

5 An Wasserflüssen Babylon BWV653B [4'17]

6 Komm, heiliger Geist Herre Gott BWV651 [6'21]

7 Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele BWV654 [6'47]

8 Das alte Jahr vergangen ist BWV614 [2'56]

9 Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV565 [10'42]

 

Markus Becker - piano

 

Hyperion’s Bach piano transcription series, which has done so much to illustrate the unique effect of Bach on the nineteenth-century mind, has reached volume 7 with the complete transcriptions by Max Reger.

 

Reger was described by his contemporaries as ‘the modern-day Bach’, partly because of his frequent use of fugue and other characteristic forms. His skills as a pianist were matched by his abilities as an organist—a situation that influenced his a profound understanding of Bach’s counterpoint. Therefore it is fascinating to see the composer’s direct response to his predecessor.

 

In the young German virtuoso Markus Becker we have the ideal performer: he has already recorded the complete original piano works of Reger. As Francis Pott writes in his comprehensive booklet notes: ‘In adopting a balance of linear and polyphonic clarity with the full expressive resources of the piano and of virtuoso technique, Markus Becker respects the historic significance both of Bach’s original inspirations and of Reger’s transcriptions as documents of their own time’.

 

Hyperion 2cds CDA67683