MAX REGER (1873-1916): Piano Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 133, String Trios No. 1 in A Minor, Op. 77b and No. 2 in D Minor, Op. 141b.

Description: The 1904 first string trio (1904) is a light, refreshing piece in the spirit of early Viennese Romanticism while the equally sunny and serenade-like second dates from 1915 (and its fugue finale was Reger's last fugue!). A big-boned, gloomy and intense work, the 37-minute piano quartet dates from the first month of World War I and has an orchestral quality which reminds us that Reger was working on the finale to his Mozart Variations. So, 83 minutes almost equally divided between “light” and “serious” Reger. Trio Lirico, Detlev Eisinger (piano).