Hyperion Records
Click album cover image to view the sleeve notes
CDA66996

Buy? £13.99

Recording details: April 1998
St George's, Brandon Hill, United Kingdom
Produced by Andrew Keener
Engineered by Tony Faulkner
Release date: January 1999
Total duration: 72 minutes 37 seconds
Available for download on iTunes: Yes

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GRAMOPHONE CRITICS' CHOICE
PENGUIN GUIDE ROSETTE

'Others have courageously fought the cause of this complex and neglected repertoire but few, if any, have brought to it such compelling fusion of temperament, intellect, and prodigious pianistic fluency' (Gramophone)

'This is a marvellous disc' (BBC Music Magazine)

'An embarrassment of riches. This is absolutely first-rate playing. Quite simply this is a stunning recital' (The Scotsman)

'I was enthralled' (Classic CD)

'I have never heard Reger played with greater imagination or persuasive eloquence. Hamelin seems to command an almost limitless range of keyboard colour. Those who have yet to be won over by Reger's keyboard music should start here' (Classic FM Magazine)

'This is playing such as you seldom hear. First-rate Hyperion recording; boring superlatives, as usual, for this least boring of contemporary keyboard giants' (Hi Fi News)

Max Reger (1873-1916)
Piano Music
Marc-André Hamelin (piano)
Variations and Fugue on a theme of Johnann Sebastian Bach, Op 81
1
No 01. Theme: Andante  [1:57]
2
No 02. Variation 1: L'istesso tempo  [1:18]
3
No 03. Variation 2: Sempre espress. ed assai legato  [1:12]
4
No 04. Variation 3: Grave assai  [3:02]
5
No 05. Variation 4: Vivace  [0:53]
6
No 06. Variation 5: Vivace  [1:17]
7
No 07. Variation 6: Allegro molto  [1:12]
8
No 08. Variation 7: Adagio  [2:08]
9
No 09. Variation 8: Vivace  [1:00]
10
No 10. Variation 9: Grave e sempre molto espressivo  [3:07]
11
No 11. Variation 10: Poco vivace  [0:54]
12
No 12. Variation 11: Allegro agitato  [0:51]
13
No 13. Variation 12: Andante sostenuto  [2:36]
14
No 14. Variation 13: Vivace  [0:42]
15
No 15. Variation 14: Con moto  [1:24]
16
No 16. Fugue: Sostenuto  [7:47]
Five Humoresques, Op 20
17
No 1: Allegretto grazioso  [1:50]
18
No 2: Presto. Andante. Presto  [2:48]
19
No 3: Andantino grazioso  [3:23]
20
No 4: Prestissimo assai  [2:03]
21
No 5: Vivace assai  [2:12]
Variations and Fugue on a theme of Georg Philipp Telemann, Op 134
22
No 01. Theme: Tempo di Minuetto  [1:26]
23
No 02. Variation 1: L'istesso tempo  [0:41]
24
No 03. Variation 2: L'istesso tempo  [0:49]
25
No 04. Variation 3: L'istesso tempo. Scherzando  [0:40]
26
No 05. Variation 4: L'istesso tempo  [0:39]
27
No 06. Variation 5: Non troppo vivace  [0:40]
28
No 07. Variation 6: Non troppo vivace  [0:42]
29
No 08. Variation 7: Quasi tempo primo  [0:50]
30
No 09. Variation 8: Tempo primo  [0:35]
31
No 10. Variation 9: Non troppo vivace  [0:55]
32
No 11. Variation 10: Quasi adagio  [1:47]
33
No 12. Variation 11: Quasi adagio  [1:39]
34
No 13. Variation 12: Poco vivace  [0:41]
35
No 14. Variation 13: Tempo primo  [0:38]
36
No 15. Variation 14: Meno vivace  [0:56]
37
No 16. Variation 15: Andante  [1:17]
38
No 17. Variation 16: Adagio  [1:44]
39
No 18. Variation 17: Povo andante  [1:10]
40
No 19. Variation 18: Tempo primo  [0:43]
41
No 20. Variation 19: Poco vivace  [0:53]
42
No 21. Variation 20: Poco vivace  [0:50]
43
No 22. Variation 21: Poco vivace  [0:48]
44
No 23. Variation 22: Vivace  [0:51]
45
No 24. Variation 23: Poco andante. Molto adagio  [2:28]
46
No 25. Fugue: Vivace con spirito  [4:39]
Reger's music is an amalgam of Bachian counterpoint and chromatic Romantic harmony – the result is writing of great density. This is particularly true of the 'Bach' Variations, Reger's piano masterpiece. Hamelin's superb virtuosity allows him to focus purely on the music, so keeping any sense of heaviness from infiltrating piano writing which, in other hands, can sound merely laboured.

The 'Telemann' Variations are much less chromatic, more decorative, and as a result are much closer to the Baroque concept of 'variation'. Their virtuosity is more obvious, with many opportunities for the soloist to display his fingerwork.

The Five Humoresques reveal Reger in lighter mode. Here the inspiration is surely from Brahms.