'Reger's Violin Concerto … is one of his most heart-warming works, allowing his intensely lyrical streak free rein. It's also superbly written for the soloist … Aided by first-rate orchestral playing, Zagrosek finds transparency in Reger's original, bringing out a wealth of significant detail in its rich polyphonic tapestry. Chief honours, of course, go to Tanja Becker-Bender: she not only shows stamina, but also technical command, beauty of tone and cleath sympathetic indentification with the music' (BBC Music Magazine)

'[Violin Concerto] Full of craft and a lyricism often of inspired quality … Tanja Becker-Bender is more than equal to the demands of the solo part, and Lothar Zagrosek's masterly articulation of Reger's Klangstrom (stream of sound), in all its transparency and modulated colour and variety of incident is, if anything, an even more distinguished contribution' (Gramophone)

'Reger's Violin Concerto is probably the longest by a major composer … but such is the beauty of its themes and the master of its developmental invention, to say nothing of the committed nature of Tanja Becker-Bender's playing that … I was unaware an hour had passed … This is a truly outstanding CD of very fine music, excellently performed and recorded' (International Record Review)

'[Violin Concerto] On its own terms it's remarkably beautiful, and Tanja Becker-Bender does wonderful things with it, shaping its lines with great lyrical force and a tremendous sense of drama. There's strong playing from the Konzerthausorchester Berlin under Lothar Zagrosek, too' (The Guardian)

'[Violin Concerto] Often considered a 'monster' - Reger's own word - but its time may at last have come. And this lovely, romantic version by Tanja Becker-Bender should help it along' (The Daily Mail)

Max Reger (1873-1916) is a composer whose best music rewards the effort taken to absorb it – and so it proves with the Violin Concerto of 1907 … this huge work has a first movement into which more conventionally ‘romantic’ works by Mendelssohn and Bruch could comfortably fit. It therefore makes demands on the stamina of the violinist, not just technically but in taxing their ability to keep the melodic threads running. Tanja Becker-Bender responds to the challenge magnificently, as do Lothar Zagrosek and his Berlin orchestra. This is a warm hearted performance right from the start' (ClassicalSource.com)

************************************************** Reger is one of those composers more talked about than listened to—caricatured as a prolific writer of organ music with a penchant for dense musical textures. But he certainly wasn’t averse to a good tune: the two Romances abound in lush lyricism, while the magnificent A major Violin Concerto shows him continuing in the tradition of the violin concertos of Beethoven and Brahms. An unashamedly symphonic work, it’s nearly an hour long—around the same length as the nearly-contemporary Elgar Violin Concerto. No less a figure than Adolf Busch championed it—first performing it when he was just sixteen. The young German violinist Tanja Becker-Bender, who has already made such an impact in Schulhoff and Paganini, is joined by Lothar Zagrosek and the Berlin Konzerthausorchester for this 11th volume in the Romantic Violin Concerto series—a series that is triumphantly demonstrating how much great music there is out there just waiting to be rediscovered.