Opera Omnia Xlll is the latest release in the acclaimed cycle of the complete works of Dieterich Buxtehude featuring the award-winning combination of early music specialist Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. It is the second volume to be devoted to the composer’s lesser known but highly rewarding chamber music and includes his seven opus 1 Trio Sonatas.
Over a period of two years in the last decade of the 17th century Dieterich Buxtehude published a group of fourteen instrumental chamber sonatas in two sets of seven. Buxtehude, who served as organist of the St. Mary’s Church in Lübeck from 1668 until his death in 1707, integrated the modern Italian style in the instrumental introductions to his sacred concertos and cantatas, but turned to instrumental chamber music only late in his life.
Ton Koopman is one of the world’s foremost early music specialists, and his recording of the complete Bach Cantatas on Challenge Classics received worldwide acclaim. In recent years he has undertaken the daunting task of recording all of the music of his compatriot, the early baroque composer Dieterich Buxtehude. As president of the International Dieterich Buxtehude Society, Ton Koopman is considered to be one of the world’s leading authorities on his music. Amongst a string of accolades for previous recordings in the series Opera Omnia X, (CC72249) was picked as an “Editor’s Choice” in the Gramophone.
