Temps Fort Honours Max Reger

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Max Reger is one of those great forgotten people of musical history. You’d have to go back more than 50 years to find one of his orchestra pieces in the archives of Montreal’s Symphony Orchestra. Since then, a few rare performances—particularly of his melody Maria Wiegenlied, often linked to the holiday season—but not one concert have been dedicated to this German composer. Born in Brand (Bavaria) in 1873, died in Leipzig in 1916, he was one of the “last musical giants,” according to composer and music theorist Paul Hindemith.

Pascal Germain-Berardi, the artistic director of Temps Fort’s productions, wished to rectify this injustice and honour the 150th anniversary of Max Reger’s birth. He will conduct a concert of the composer’s choral pieces, rightly adding a choral composition by Johannes Brahms and three others from Paul Hindemith, on Nov. 16 at the Sacré-Cœur-de-Jésus church. The choice is not insignificant: Reger was greatly influenced by the former, and in turn had exerted an influence on the latter.

“My first contact with Max Reger was when I was with the Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal,” said Germain-Berardi. “I was 12 years old. Our choirmaster, Gilbert Patenaude, had the wild idea to suggest one of the composer’s pieces. With its chromaticism and indirect lyrics, it was far from being easy. I remember that it took us six months. Even at our level—we were studying musical theory from Monday to Friday—it was a real challenge.”

Creator of about 30 orchestral pieces, Reger also proved to be as prolific in various vocal genres, although notably not in opera. “He remains a complete artist, able to offer dark moments of great depth as well as moments of sublime beauty, sometimes within the same piece such as O Tod, wie bitter bist du (Oh death, you are so bitter). Max Reger was obsessed with the passage of time, by composers who died young. He portrayed this in his way of living. Romanticism was tattooed on his heart. He would work every day until exhausted. He ate, drank, smoked a lot. He consumed life.”

For Germain-Berardi, Reger went furthest in tonal expression, without ever crossing into modernity. “His music is ever moving, which makes it very expressive. In retrospect, we can understand how it could be considered radical at that time. Young musicians such as Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg and Karol Szymanowski all wondered what more they could add. Today, given all we know about sound and styles, I think we have reached the point of appreciating Max Reger at his true worth.”