Buxtehude: Jesus Christus, unser Heiland, der den Tod überwand, BuxWV 198

Christopher Herrick’s acclaimed series of Buxtehude’s Complete Organ Works reaches a fifth and final volume. Here he returns to the composer’s (disputed) home country of Denmark, and the organ of Mariager Klosterkirke.

Highlights include the magnificent Praeludium in C major, BuxWV137 (known to English-speaking organists as the ‘Prelude, Fugue and Chaconne in C’) and the Chorale Fantasia on the Christmas melody ‘Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ’, BuxWV188—among the longest and most elaborate of Buxtehude’s chorale settings.

Dieterich Buxtehude’s organ works are his most significant contribution to the history of music. They consist of a comprehensive corpus of just 90 compositions, of which more than half are chorale settings. However, these are mostly shorter than the preludes, toccatas and other freely conceived pieces, so these last represent a more substantial share of his entire output. Five different types of pieces are included among the works collected in this CD, all representing distinct genres of improvisatory styles that make up the broad spectrum of the daily practice of organists in Lutheran Germany, whether designed as functional music for worship services, for presenting them in recitals, or for purposes of compositional study.

Ton Koopman studied organ with Simon C. Jansen and harpsichord with Gustav Leonhardt, alongside musicology in Amsterdam and was awarded the Prix d’Excellence for both instruments. As an organist he has performed and ecorded on the most prestigious historical instruments of Europe.

"This seven dollar CD exhibits some absolutely superb organ playing and sound, with a demo-grade capturing of recorded acoustic space, realistic envelopment, and up-front depth. There is no super-deep bass here, but the sound is clean as hell, and notably brilliant in the best Baroque tradition."

- Howard Ferstler, Sensible Sound, January/February 2002