Reger: String Trios and Piano Quartets (Complete), Vol. 1

The first of two discs containing the complete piano quartets and string trios of Max Reger, this release features the String Trio in A minor of 1904, a work of almost Mozartian clarity and the 1910 Piano Quartet in D minor. Modelled on Brahms's C minor Piano Quartet, Reger's Quartet is a deeply expressive and intense work, with an often grotesque sense of humour. The composer himself described the Vivace second movement as a "crazy Scherzo".