Max Reger. Falling off the organ bench in a state of inebriation. Poking fun at all and sundry, himself included. A difficult case. As for his music, just like his person, it might trigger mixed reactions. His works for solo strings fall right into this category: erudite experiments and stuffy Hausmusik infused with mystic glow and hyper- romantic indulgence – all packaged with little tricky passages of daily violin practice rendering it outrageously difficult. Who advised the composer? In addition to this, stylistic problems arise. Is Reger just a better sort of Bach - the same holy devotion without the looming hazards of authentic performance practice? My selection cuts through these preconceptions by combining two musical worlds, the two masterful sonatas with their exuberant Jugendstil vernacular and the cool virtuosity of the cheeky Fugues preceded by their meandering preludes. This is a music you cannot hear from any other composer, even when Reger vividly creates musical reminiscences of his colleagues: the final movement of op.91 /3 evokes the flying octaves at the end of Sibelius’ violin concerto, or Paganini’s famous E-major capriccio . Brahms suddenly springs to mind – as Gidon Kremer showed convincingly when he performed the prelude of op.117/6 in lieu of a Cadenza to Brahms’ violin concerto. Many of these ideas barely stop short of Plagiarism except for the idiosyncratic way in which Max Reger „owns“ his musical material, not so much quoting but rather responding to his colleagues, be they Bach, Brahms, Paganini or Sibelius. The listener is to witness a refined discussion among genii. Talking of genius: some of these pieces for solo violin may be considered masterpieces. How come we still count their recordings on the fingers of one hand? (es)