Max Reger: Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Telemann, Op. 134

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Description

Max Reger was born on March 19, 1873, in Brand, Bavaria, and became one of the most formidable and prolific composers of the late Romantic era. A pianist and organist of extraordinary technical command, he devoted much of his career to the revival and extension of the great German contrapuntal tradition — Bach above all — at a time when many of his contemporaries were moving in very different directions. His music is dense, harmonically adventurous, and technically demanding, occupying a unique space between the rigor of the Baroque and the chromatic richness of late Romanticism.

The Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Telemann, Op. 134, was composed in 1914, the final year of Reger's life before the outbreak of World War I, and stands as one of his most celebrated works for solo piano. The theme he chose is a graceful minuet by Georg Philipp Telemann, a composer of the Baroque era whose elegant, dance-like writing provided Reger with an ideal point of departure. From this simple and charming foundation, Reger constructs twenty-three variations of remarkable diversity, ranging from the delicately scherzando to the deeply introspective, each one exploring a different facet of the theme's melodic and harmonic possibilities.

The variations move through a wide expressive arc, alternating between moments of playful lightness — particularly in the faster Poco vivace and Non troppo vivace sections — and passages of considerable emotional depth in the slower Adagio and Quasi adagio variations. Rather than straying far from the theme's essential character, Reger continually reimagines it from within, his dense chromatic harmonies and contrapuntal textures lending each variation a sense of discovery. The concluding Fugue, marked Vivace con spirito, brings the work to a brilliant and rigorous close, weaving the theme's material into an intricate contrapuntal structure that serves as both a culmination of the variations and a tribute to the Baroque tradition Reger held so dear.

Track List:

1. Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Telemann, Op. 134 - Theme. Tempo di minuetto - 1:50
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2. Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Telemann, Op. 134 - Var. 1, L'istesso tempo - 0:54
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3. Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Telemann, Op. 134 - Var. 2, L'istesso tempo - 1:00
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4. Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Telemann, Op. 134 - Var. 3, L'istesso tempo. Scherzando - 0:52
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5. Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Telemann, Op. 134 - Var. 4, L'istesso tempo - 0:49
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6. Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Telemann, Op. 134 - Var. 5, Non troppo vivace - 0:55
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7. Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Telemann, Op. 134 - Var. 6, Non troppo vivace - 0:56
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8. Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Telemann, Op. 134 - Var. 7, Quasi tempo primo - 0:59
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9. Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Telemann, Op. 134 - Var. 8, Tempo primo - 0:43
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10. Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Telemann, Op. 134 - Var. 9, Non troppo vivace - 1:06
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11. Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Telemann, Op. 134 - Var. 10, Quasi adagio - 1:34
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12. Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Telemann, Op. 134 - Var. 11, Quasi adagio - 1:45
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13. Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Telemann, Op. 134 - Var. 12, Poco vivace - 0:52
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14. Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Telemann, Op. 134 - Var. 13, Tempo primo - 0:43
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15. Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Telemann, Op. 134 - Var. 14, Meno vivace - 1:06
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16. Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Telemann, Op. 134 - Var. 15, Andante - 1:38
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17. Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Telemann, Op. 134 - Var. 16, Adagio - 1:45
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18. Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Telemann, Op. 134 - Var. 17, Poco andante - 1:36
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19. Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Telemann, Op. 134 - Var. 18, Tempo primo - 0:50
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20. Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Telemann, Op. 134 - Var. 19, Poco vivace - 0:57
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21. Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Telemann, Op. 134 - Var. 20, Poco vivace - 1:07
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22. Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Telemann, Op. 134 - Var. 21, Poco vivace - 0:53
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23. Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Telemann, Op. 134 - Var. 22, Vivace - 1:06
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24. Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Telemann, Op. 134 - Var. 23, Poco andante. Molto adagio - 2:30
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25. Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Telemann, Op. 134 - Fugue. Vivace con spirito - 5:11
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26. Total Runtime - 33:37