Reger / Werner - Drei Grosse Choralfantasien 52 [CD]

The Chorale Fantasy Alle Menschen müssen sterben op.52, 1 opens the last group of Reger's "symphonic" chorale fantasias. The piece in question is perhaps the most orchestral of them all and utilizes the bulk of all the instrumental registers on the organ in order to construct, in Reger's own words, a miniature symphonic poem for Organ. In this music, Reger operates with highly expressive intervals, and alternates the cantus firmus in all the voices of the texture. A noteworthy highpoint of the composer's output is Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme op.52, 2, which contains some of Reger's gravest, most profound, and moving music. The stark chromatic lines and dark instrumental colors depict a most otherworldly and visionary atmosphere. Halleluja! Gott zu loben, bleibe meine Seelenfreud op.52, 3 is the last of the big chorale fantasias. The word-painting of the text is again remarkably mirrored in the music, in the tradition of Bach. The conclusion of the fantasy is a well-constructed fugue, built this time on a newly-invented theme. In the final measures of the fugue, the fugue subject and the opening cantus firmus are contrapuntally combined.