The title for this disc is something of a misnomer, since none of Reger’s original works for voice and orchestra are included, and what we have here is a selection of his orchestral versions of Lieder written for piano accompaniment, by other composers as well as his own. Reger began by orchestrating a group of Schubert’s songs in 1913, before turning his attention to Brahms, Wolf, Grieg and, of course, himself. Many double the vocal line instrumentally and could, as he put it, with characteristically blunt humour, ‘be rendered without any voice by resort town bands’.

Nevertheless, most were actually done with astonishing care. Reger allows himself grand Romantic gestures only in Grieg. Elsewhere, restraint seemingly rules. Strings largely predominate, with splashes of woodwind and brass colour. Most of his versions stand comparison with their originals, and it’s fascinating to note what is added and sometimes taken away. Schubert’s ‘Prometheus’ loses its edge without the piano’s percussive quality but two songs from Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch sound very dark, Wagnerian and sexy as clarinets in thirds wind their way through the textures. The influence of ‘Erlkönig’ on the opening of Die Walküre has often been noted: Reger uses the latter’s prelude as the starting point for a real roller-coaster ride of his own.

There’s some superb singing here, too, though mezzo Stefanie Iranyi occasionally sounds plummy. Schubert’s ‘An den Mond’ lies a bit high for her, though Brahms’s ‘Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer’ is creepily introverted, and she’s charming in Reger’s own ‘Wiegenlied’. Tenor and baritone, Rainer Trost and Paul Armin Edelmann, are both outstanding. Trost, his voice wonderfully fresh, gets very passionate in the Grieg songs, is troublingly introverted as Schubert’s Harfner, and takes us to hell and back with ‘Erlkönig’. Edelmann, on occasion reminiscent of Hermann Prey, is sensual and caressing both in Wolf and in Reger’s own songs, but brings terrific dramatic weight to bear on ‘Prometheus’ and Brahms’s ‘Auf dem Kirchofe’. Gregor Bühl’s conducting is admirably spacious and unhurried. Just occasionally he lingers: ‘Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer’ is slower than any version I know with piano, but he brings out the beauty of Reger’s instrumentation to perfection.