Max Reger made a number of collections of a cappella folk song settings in the late 1890s, at the request of his teacher, Adalbert Lindner. Although Reger had little but contempt for the local amateur choral societies who would be the target audience for the arrangements, he was debt-ridden and was offered the possibility of publication, so he agreed. Two of the three sets recorded here are for mixed voices, and one is for men's voices. Although the projects may not have had the composer's whole-hearted passion behind them (he wrote one set of nine songs in a week), they demonstrate his skill and thoughtful creativity, and are never merely workmanlike -- they are consistently euphonious, harmonically rich, and contrapuntally inventive. Taken as a whole, the three sets lack strong contrasts -- all are mellow and mellifluous -- but each set on its own is fully satisfying. The
Dresdner Kammerchor is a youthful-sounding ensemble, with a warm, focused, well-blended tone.
Hans-Christoph Rademann leads the group in nuanced and supple performances. Carus' sound is well balanced, with a nicely warm resonance.