Max Reger: Marienlieder op. 61d: (Arr. Morten Schuldt-Jensen): Mixed Choir A Cappella

Reger’s 8 Marienlieder Op. 61d, with their simple melodies and expressive harmonies, demonstrate Reger’s mastery of choral composition and his devotion to the Virgin Mary.It is assumed that the collection ‘Ave Maria’ by Josef Pankratius Heuberger, who died in 1865, originally printed in the middle of the 18th century and republished in Regensburg around 1900, played a role for Reger. With their impressive themes and their devotion to the Virgin Mary, Heuberger’s 12 Marian songs could have been an important model for Reger when he created his own series of songs. Reger’s talent for combining traditional forms with innovative harmonies comes into its own in the 8 Marienlieder Op. 61d. Through careful craftsmanship and sensitive text composition, Reger captures the essence of the Marian tradition and lends each piece an air of reverence and contemplation.

The name SAM-Klang takes the three voice parts from the arrangements – Soprano, Alto and Men – and combines it with the Scandinavian and German words for ‘sound’ to create the portmanteau word ‘sound together’ or ‘harmony’. The SAM-Klang series offers basic and advanced choral repertoire arranged for soprano, alto and one male voice- part. In addition to new repertoire and new arrangements, you will also find essential parts of the classical German, Scandinavian, French and English SATB repertoire, carefully and considerately reworked for SAM. The arrangements retain the characteristic features of the original movements and have almost the same richness of timbre, resulting in works which sound nearly unchanged to an audience. Piano reductions of all choral movements facilitate rehearsal preparation. The arrangements offer development opportunities for all voice sections, bringing new life and new quality to SAM choir work. SAM-Klang enables youth choirs to gain access to classical choral literature and ensures that mixed choirs who face challenges in finding singers for all male voice parts continue to have access to well-loved repertoire. For further information and to discover more about SAM-Klang, including recordings, translations, pronunciation guides, videos, existing and new volumes in the series, please visit www.sam-klang.com