I find this work fascinating. The orchestral writing is truly remarkable, as if Reger is deliberately playing around with the notion of what constitutes "olden style", creating a hauntingly ambiguous veil which, on one level seems to look backward while, at the same time, leaving little doubt as to its underlying modernity. Each movement is, therefore, like a vaguely surreal juxtaposition of unlikely components which, somehow, work together brilliantly......well, that's how it all seems to me. Utterly brilliant!
Max, greetings ! You decribed it perfectly .... Rather than a pastiche / period piece, this work by Reger seems closer "in spirit" to Prokofiev's "Classical" Symphony, for example. Beautiful Largo !
Hello, Hector! You know, I'd forgotten my comment on this but thanks for reminding me......I'll have to listen again to see if my words still ring true for me!
@@maxmerry8470 I just listened to V. d'Indy's "Suite in the Old Style," which Rodders posted a few years ago. I find this aesthetic of going back to an older style fascinating; almost, like the composers want to play with our memories ....
Robert Hughes used the music of the 2nd movement in his documentary the Shock of the New, when describing the early work of the surrealist painter Giorgio de Chirico.