Reger Analysis - Cellular composition in his Piano Concerto F minor op. 114/III

[@Vincent_Xia]

Succinct but fantastic analysis, which I hope will help some people attain new appreciation for Reger's music (especially for those repulsed by his "lack of melody"). I'd like to make one additional general comment on this movement and observe how Reger's humoreske style-particularly the duple scherzo variety-permeates through much of his music, even this piano concerto of momentous proportions. This style manifests itself most frequently in the piano music (20/1, 20/3, 25/2, 26/4, 36/1, 44/7, 45/2, 53/1, 53/7, 79a/1, 79a/2, 82/I/9, 82/II/5, 82/II/10, 82/III/6, 115/7, 115/8, 143/10), but you can find appearances of this style in the many other genres he wrote in, from the chamber works (49/2 clarinet sonata 2nd movement, 2nd piano quintet 2nd movement, 54/2 string quartet 1st movement, Op. 77a serenade 1st movement, Op. 107 clarinet sonata 2nd movement, Op. 141a serenade 1st movement), to the lieder (31/2, 31/6, 66/12, 70/10, 76/19, 76/36, 76/48, 76/58, 88/4, 98/2), to the longer variation works (Bach Variations var. 13, Hiller Variations vars. 3 and 4). For such an imposing and lofty work, it may seem unexpected that the humoreske creeps its way into the piano concerto; yet, it does in the third movement, albeit considerably beefed up and adorned with sumptuous. Nonetheless, despite the piano concerto's third movement being considerably more grandiose in scope than the solo piano humoreskes, both share many unmistakable gestures. You have already pointed out the similarity of one of the concerto's cells to that in the concluding piece of Op. 82's 2nd book, but I reckon you would be able to find several more examples of gestures shared between this movement and the other piano humoreskes. And although the sharing of this specific gesture may be coincidental, the overall stylistic similarities between the piano concerto's finale and the other humoreske works are not; all of these works are undoubtedly bound by a humorous style which pervades his music throughout different genres and different time periods, from the early Op. 20 humoreskes to the mature Träume am Kamin Op. 143. Happy 151st birthday to Max Reger.

[@o.t.tjabben7543]

Thank you very much for this rich comment or rather in-depth addition!

[@naphtanaptha]

very insightful analysis. reger is such a fascinating composer. definitely have to check out his concerto soon!

[@VilipxProductions]

this guy is is actually my favorite composer, so underrated, i dont get it how someone can say its unlistenable chromatic slurge, its just fun as hell

[@Khayyam-vg9fw]

Great stuff! We need the same sort of close analysis of Franz Schmidt, too.

[@rudigerk]

Is there a way to read this dissertation and your master thesis that you mentioned? Reger is one of my favorite Composers! I'd be interested to read these Texts. Best Regards