Dietrich BUXTEHUDE (c. 1637-1707) Organ Music Volume 2- The Organ Encyclopedia Praeludium in C major, BuxWv 137 [6.05] Komm heiliger Geist, BuxWv 199 [4.14] Von Gott will ich nicht lassen, BuxWv 221 [2.44] Vater unser im Himmelreich, BuxWv 207 [6.57] i. Versus I [2.39] ii. Versus II [1.24] iii. Versus III [2.54] Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist, BuxWv 208 [2.42] Toccata in G major, BuxWv 164 [3.14] Nun lob mein Seel, BuxWv 212 [4.17] In dulci jubilo, BuxWv 197 [2.17] Fuga in C major, BuxWv 174 [3.33] Ciaccona in E minor, BuxWv 160 [5.46] Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin, BuxWv 75 [7.47] i. Contrapunctus I [1.30] ii. Evolutio I [1.25] iii. Contrapunctus II [1.29] iv. Evolution II [1.25] v. Klag-Lied [1.58] Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BuxWv 223 [7.39] Praeludium in A minor, BuxWv 153 [6.55] Julia Brown (organ) Brombaugh organ, 1976 Op. 19, Central Lutheran Church, Eugene, Oregon, USA Recorded at the Central Lutheran Church, Eugene, Oregon, USA, March 2001 NAXOS DDD 8.555775 [64.11]
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Julia Brown has chosen for this recording a generally suitable organ set in a warm and pleasant acoustic. The Brombaugh 1976 has mechanical action, something that Brown seems to use quite well to the advantage of the music. It has 38 stops, a fine and weighty pleno, mellow, fluty stops but some rather unattractive solos. It is tuned in unequal temperament using Kellner’s ‘Bach’ of 1978. Brown’s registration is varied and appropriate to the style of the music. The booklet is informative and well presented. It gives an analytical summary of each piece and also an account on Buxtehude’s work and life. He is described as a composer who ‘… represented the height of North German keyboard traditions, exercising a decisive influence over the following generation, notably on Johann Sebastian Bach, who undertook the long journey from Arnstadt to Lübeck to hear him play, outstaying his leave, to the dissatisfaction of his employers. Händel too visited Lübeck in 1703, with his Hamburg friend and colleague Mattheson’. Brown has wisely chosen not to confine herself to the popular and much-recorded Preludes and Fugues, recording only two of them together with items from various other genres. There are well-contrasted chorale preludes, a Toccata, a Fugue as well as the Ciaccona in E minor, an ostinato piece which offers a fascinating conspectus of Buxtehude’s variation techniques. It is this piece that might serve as the model for Bach’s Passacaglia in C minor. Brown’s playing is fluent and confident with a good presentation of the different lines. The finger-work is tidy and performed with dexterity. She reflects with almost complete success the improvisatory character of the music but occasionally loses the impetus by undue pointing of particular episodes. Her articulation is occasionally somewhat clipped, leaving insufficient space for ‘singing’. In general her performances are very good controlled and tidy, display apt musicality and match the style of the music. They are surely to be enjoyed by the listener. Christina Antoniadou

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