‘In my view, Reger must be played often: 1. Because he wrote a lot; 2. Because he is dead and we still do not have a clear appreciation of him. (I consider him a genius.)’ Arnold Schoenberg, 1922

Considering how little public awareness there was of it during its short existence, it’s remarkable how much of a long-term impact was made by Arnold Schoenberg’s Society for Private Musical Performances. It was founded in Mödling near Vienna in November 1918 with the express purpose of ‘enabling Arnold Schoenberg to personally provide artists and art lovers with a thoroughly detailed knowledge of modern music’ (Alban Berg, 1919). The task of setting up the Society for Private Musical Performances fell to the violinist Rudolf Kolisch (1896–1978), one of Schreker’s students who studied privately with Schoenberg post-1919 and later became his brother-in-law.

It was Kolisch who made the present arrangement of Reger's Violin Concerto for performance at the Society's concerts.