Alban's Blog

Recording Reger – soon it’s over :)

recording Reger in HannoverSitting with a glass of red wine after the first day of recording – how much more fulfilling does life get? Next to me my dear producer Andrew Keener, who kept up with my horrible moods during the last movement of the last Reger Suite – my God, why does this guy write such difficult stuff????Actually, I just realized that the three recordings I did so far for Hyperion (five including this double Reger cd) have been all with the same recording crew, and I feel so lucky because they took my fear of recording away. Well, it still stresses me out a whole lot, and I can’t wait that it will be over, but for now we got the two most difficult pieces out of the way and I am positive that we will finish it all tomorrow afternoon and I can go home!

aufnahme-hannover1-0407.JPGAt some point my fingers really didn’t want to function any more, the left wrist was completely blocked, it showed in the result, so Andrew suggested we’d call it a day. But I was so desperate to get the most dangerous place out of the way that I tortured my poor, abused hand through the last half hour which normally should have taken 10 minutes… Well, it’s always a gamble between being on the edge and giving up because of exhaustion. Somehow I function extremely well with just a few drops of gas left, but without – no chance.

That’s why we are filling up on red wine right now, to have some gas tomorrow ๐Ÿ™‚

Comments

  • Bob

    The last movement of Reger 3 is such a bitch. Again, I ask you, why does he change such insignificant details between otherwise verbatim repeats? But the memorization is the least of it. I’ve had memorized, more or less, for a month now and I still can’t play it at tempo. Maybe I never will. I can’t wait to hear your recording.

    Reply
  • Alban

    Dear Bob, sorry, sorry for being so late, but I have been busy with myspace ๐Ÿ™‚ very addictive dangerous place, and if not playing with Janos, I was in this part of the cyberworld…
    Yes, the last movement of the 3rd Reger-Suite is rather awful and dangerous. I actually played it in a little dress rehearsal concert the night before the recording, and it worked, but I think I got lucky. Well, and the problem is, the speed should be faster than what Reger writes – this is sooo slow one would get infinitely bored by listening. I know that I took not even 10 minutes for the entire first Suite, and the last one about 15 minutes, with all repeats. No, I am not bragging, I am just describing that I believe Reger needs some help with his outpoors of cello-music, and even though speed ain’t everything, it does help his music a lot to be very flexible with the tempos.
    Best wishes from Berlin, see you hopefully soon,
    Yours Alban

    Reply
  • Bob

    Tempus fugit. Tempi? fuggitaboutit. I never bothered to check Reger’s tempo markings. Most composers have broken metronomes. Do you try to play Schumann’s or Beethoven’s tempo markings? At best, they can give you a relative idea. To me, the last movement of Reger 3 goes at 1/8 = 92, but I can’t play the last variation reliably at that tempo. My edition of Reger says 1/8 = 72. I wouldn’t want to play so slow. What tempo did you arrive at?

    Reply
  • Alban

    Don’t agree: For example, with the Schumann Concerto, the tempo makes tons of sense if you would just sing it. Unfortunately it doesn’t really work with the cello plus orchestra, but I don’t think, it’s a broken metronome. With Reger it’s different, I think the guy was just really crazy. What speed I arrived at for the Reger? Don’t know, will have to wait for the recording… Rather fast though, took my time for the harmonics then ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply

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