Max Reger
Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 3 in F Major op. 78

Johann Sebastian Bach
Sonata für Viola da gamba and Harpsichord No. 3 in G Minor BWV 1029

Max Reger
Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 4 in A Minor op. 116

Martin Rummel, cello
Elizabeth Hopkins, piano

In 2007 Cantate Musicaphon Records already released the first two Reger sonatas and two of the sonatas for viol and harpsichord by Bach (Musicaphon M 56894). Elizabeth Hopkins is Rummels congenial partner in these recordings.

„Bach would not have cared,“ is Rummel‘s deliberately exaggerated objection to the purists who condemn these cello / piano version in comparison to the viol / harpsichord version as a modern transcription. „It‘s about the spirit and message of the music as well as about the interpretation, not about the instrument“ is the somewhat more detailed formulation; the cellist verifies that already Bach himself transcribed not only works by Vivaldi, but also his own pieces often for many different occupations – at least the famous E Major Violin Partita for organ.

In one of her by  press and public always vaunted concert moderations the pianist Elizabeth Hopkins called the composer Max Reger once as „a musical glutton.“ Volouminous chords, complex harmonic structures, which makes the analytical and emotional pianist to sound downright easy and understandable accompagnying Rummel‘s intense cello tone. Nearly two hundred years distance from Johann Sebastian Bach seem anything but invincible: Rare, enthralling, this CD is worth hearing.