Max Reger’s large choral motets, op.110, are great spiritual representations of the human soul – fashioned during the last days of tonality. The spiritual abyss, anxiety and doubt lead to a tonal ordeal, as emotionally-charged counterpoint becomes paralyzed in a dense, complex texture – and suddenly the knots are disentangled in a tenderness of unison phrases hardly to be surpassed, and Reger comes very close to his model, J.S. Bach. In addition to the three choral motets, for this CD the SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart, under the direction of Frieder Bernius, also performs Reger's seldom recorded chorale cantata ‘O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden’, based on the Passion hymn by Paul Gerhardt – a true feast for all friends of choral music.