Max Reger – Sonatas and Pieces

Eight years after he had composed his first two Clarinet Sonatas op. 49, Reger confessed in a letter to a friend that he was once again committing a new crime against harmony and counterpoint. He was referring to the Sonata for Clarinet and Pianoforte op. 107. Reger made a point of not destroying the chamber music character of the work by having too much virtuosic padding – Brahms developed classic examples of what the style was meant to be like. Alongside the sonatas, the Urtext edition also contains two charming encores: a Tarantella in g minor and an Album Lead in E flat major. The Sonata op. 49.2 is for clarinet in A. The other pieces are for clarinet in B flat.