Max Reger

Reger was born in Brand, Bavaria, in 1873 and died in Leipzig in 1916. From 1901 he built his reputation in Munich as an organist, chamber pianist and accompanist. He later directed music at the Leipzig University Church, taught at the Royal Conservatory in Leipzig, and from 1911 to 1914 was court conductor to Duke Georg II of Saxe-Meiningen. He wrote in almost every genre except opera and symphony.

He favoured fugue and variation forms and wrote a great deal for the organ. His music joins the classical structures of Beethoven and Brahms with the extended harmonies of Liszt and Wagner, and it adds the counterpoint of Bach. One reviewer calls the quartets hard going but in no way atonal.

The two quartets of Op. 54 were written in 1900 and published in 1902. No. 1 in G minor is dedicated to Otto Spitzweg and has four movements: Allegro agitato, Vivace assai, Largo mesto and Prestissimo assai. One reviewer hears bustling, densely worked lines and driving energy, a hiccuping rustic second movement and a fast fugal finale that is unusual for Reger. No. 2 in A major is dedicated to Dr Arthur Seidl and has three movements: Allegro assai e bizzaro, Andante semplice con variazioni and Allegro vivace, con spirito. A radio programme note finds it lighter in mood than No. 1 but no less complex.