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Max Reger (1873-1916) was born at a time marked by profound changes, when every aspect of human experience—social, political and cultural—was called into question. This was reflected in classical music written around the turn of the century, as composers negotiated the tension between tradition and modernity.
Paul Hindemith called Reger “the last of the giants” and said his own work would be “inconceivable” without Reger’s influence. Schönberg considered him “a genius.” In Reger’s short lifetime, he composed over 1,000 works in most genres, yet he is less familiar to audiences than his contemporaries including Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Ravel, Richard Strauss and Bartók.
“Reger is reverent to the past, yet looking to write for the future. The audience, history, musicology, give more importance to someone breaking a rule than to someone taking a rule further,” said Philippe Bourque, who will lead the St. Lawrence Choir and Orchestra in Reger’s monumental and brilliant Psalm 100 on March 11, in what may be a first performance of this piece in Canada.
Psalm 100 was written for the 350th anniversary of the University of Jena, where Reger was also to receive an honorary doctorate, which, Bourque says, must have meant a great deal to him. The work may be his legacy—the masterpiece he wanted to leave to the world. “He took one of the most joyful passages you can ever think of in the Bible. This piece is one of his most accessible—we get his devotion to Bach, beautiful craftsmanship, joy, reverence. We get to experience all that and really get a glimpse of what Reger can be when he smiles.”
Psalmus Hungaricus by Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967) was first performed a hundred years ago. “As Reger was reverent to Bach and the past, Kodály was reverent to his folk roots,” Bourque said. “He thought there was a lot of history there that needs to be known, needs to be composed on—done in an idiom that speaks to the current generation. It is harmonized differently from Reger, different subtleties, sharp ninth chords, bluesy, jazzy, crunchy. There are a-capella sections, we sing together, it’s a dance and we all have our moments.” Although Kodály never actually quotes a folk song in the work, the recurring theme sung by the choir contains the essence of ancient Hungarian folk music. The text, based on Psalm 55 translated into Hungarian by a 16th-century poet, is carried by tenor John Mac Master, who has worked with the choir before. “He can sing the high sustained notes; he has a very strong voice—a fly-over-the-orchestra-in-a-breeze voice,” Bourque said. “He is one of our best heldentenors (heroic tenor).”
The concert will open with Patricia Abbott conducting the moving Psalm 121 by Imant Raminsh, sung by the EMSB Senior Chorale and the women of the St. Lawrence Choir. “It is a psalm to comfort, encourage and to celebrate,” Bourque said. “Raminsh is well known in Canada, in the choral world. He is a Latvian who came to Canada in the early Fifties. He wrote for the choir before and we premièred some of his material. His music exudes a certain sacredness, it is so calm and beautiful. There is something that transcends the music—that lifts your soul to something higher.”
The St. Lawrence Choir and Orchestra,
directed by Philippe Bourque, with the EMSB Senior Chorale and the Chantres Musiciens will perform Psalmae at the Maison Symphonique on
Saturday, March 11, 2023, at 7:30 p.m. www.choeur.qc.ca
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