8 Episodes, Op. 115 - Max Reger

[@Vincent_Xia]

I love the possibly bitonal snippet at 8:32. It is one of my favourite Reger moments, and, along with the Silhouette Op. 53 No. 6, perhaps the closest he gets to pianistic Impressionism.

[@williammcghee863]

Thank you for posting this. As much as I love Reger's organ compositions, he was an awesome composer for piano; if one likes drama beneath their fingers, then Reger's piano music is a worth learning and playing.

[@user-fu7zf4ck9z]

Awesome pieces. I wish there was more piano music by Max reger

[@sbareg]

Indeed! But his piano output is already quite massive : Bach variations op. 81, Telemann variations op. 134, preludes and fugues op. 99, intermezzi op. 45, aus meinem tagebuch op. 82 with 4 big volumes of varied pieces, aquarellen op. 25, charakterstucke op. 32, silhouetten op. 53 and many many more ^^

[@tarikeld11]

1:02 Jazz harmony

[@michael18276]

That lingering style sounds just like Scriabin.

[@tomdis8637]

Harmonically, structurally, texturally, and philosophically, though, they are “as far apart as is the East from the West.”

[@michael18276]

@@tomdis8637 Claiming a difference is so easy a thing to say.

[@tomdis8637]

@@michael18276Claiming a superficial resemblance is easier. Perhaps you can tell me how Reger and Scriabin are more than distantly related in terms of melody, harmony and rhythm.

[@dario8220]

reger is like the jacob collier version of brahms xd

[@naphtanaptha]

great reger pieces. love reger. would be even better if the pianist didn't play every p as mf and ignore every second other dynamic marking... (reger has such amazing and meaningful dynamic contrasts, for example at 24:09 the pianist does a great job paying attention to the subito fs (even tho the p still sounds at least mf) which *greatly* enhances the expression, and then completely ignores the markings a few seconds later 24:24, as with most other passages. kind of a shame since otherwise the recording really isn't bad at all)

[@GICM]

didn't know Reger had a late style

[@Vincent_Xia]

You subconsciously already know Reger's late style (somewhat), since his Telemann variations (Op. 134) were also written late in his life. His late period (1907 - 1916) largely dispenses with the dense and sometimes overbearing textures found in some pieces of his middle period (1900 - 1907), hence why the Telemann variations appear shockingly bare-bones compared to his Bach variations. Harmonically, the Telemann variations are also simplified; several of the variations contain some of Reger's most harmonically simple writing because the harmonic progression is generally preserved (this is sometimes IMO a flaw, as it can lead to some variations sounding repetitive). These pieces, however, retain Reger's harmonic complexity and innovation. Many instances of striking dissonances can be observed (such as at 1:22 or 8:32) and there is an introspective and sometimes quasi-Impressionistic quality about these pieces, which creates the image of a post-Romantic Brahms. Another wonderful late Reger set is the Träume am Kamin Op. 143, the last of his piano opuses. It epitomizes Reger's mature harmonic language, and leaves us wondering where he would have gone had he not died prematurely.