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Dieterich BUXTEHUDE (c.1637-1707)
Die Choralfantasien Volume 1
Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren | BuxWV 212 [3:56]
Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ | BuxWV 188 [9:05]
Magnificat primi toni | BuxWV 203 [8:20]
Te Deum Laudamus | BuxWV 218
- Praeludium [2:16]
- Te Deum laudamus [3:35]
- Pleni sunt coeli et terra [5:15]
- Te Martyrum [1:22]
 - Tu devicto [3:04]
„Fried- und freudenreiche Hinfahrt“ | BuxWV 76
- Contrapunctus I [1:39]
- Evolutio I [1:27]
- Contrapunctus II [1:31]
- Evolutio II [1:29]
- Klag-Lied, mit Solo-Sopran [3:54]
Pier Damiano Peretti, organ, Josefine Constanze Göhmann, soprano
Recorded 21-24 October 2006, Ss Cosmae et Damiani, Stade DDD
IFO ORG7224.2 [46:05]

Dieterich BUXTEHUDE (c.1637-1707)
Die Choralfantasien Volume 2
Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g’mein | BuxWV 210 [14:22]
Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ | BuxWV 196 [4:18]
Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern | BuxWV 223 [9:09]
Magnificat primi toni
 - Versett I | BuxWV 204.1 [2:03]
 - Versett II | BuxWV 204.2 [1:53]
Magnificat noni toni („tonus peregrinus“)
Magnificat germanice: Meine Seele erhebet den Herren]
 - Versett I | BuxWV 205.1 [1:28]
 - Versett II | BuxWV 205.2 [1:45]
Ich dank dir schon durch deinen Sohn | BuxWV 195 [5:53]
Ich dank dir, lieber Herre | BuxWV 194 [5:13]
Pier Damiano Peretti, organ, Josefine Constanze Göhmann, soprano
Recorded 21-24 October 2006, Ss Cosmae et Damiani, Stade DDD
IFO ORG7224.3 [46:54]

The year 2007 has been celebrated by the organ world as the year of Dieterich Buxtehude, the great pre-Bachian organ master from Lübeck who died 300 years ago. Conferences, competitions and numerous concerts devoted to Buxtehude’s music have been organised, and many new recordings released. One of these is the present recording of the great chorale arrangements for organ, made by Pier Damiano Peretti on the famous Huß-Schnitger organ in Ss. Cosmae and Damiani in Stade. 

Born in 1974, Peretti is Professor of Organ at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover. He studied in Vienna with Herbert Tachezi and Michael Radulescu, and in Hamburg with Wolfgang Zerer and Pieter van Dijk. As well as his extensive performing activities, he also composes music for organ, choir and chamber ensembles. 

These discs present Buxtehude’s chorale settings in a wide perspective; from the most sophisticated of arrangements:  the famous fantasia “Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g’mein” BuxWV 210, “Gelobet seist Du, Jesu Christ” BuxWV 188 and “Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern” BuxWV 223, to the more modest so called “chorale ricercari”: “Ich dank Dir schon durch Deinen Sohn” BuxWV 195, “Ich dank Dir, lieber Herre” BuxWV 194, to forms mixing the choral fantasy genre with the simple monodic setting, represented by the chorales “Ich ruf zu Dir, Herr Jesu Christ”, BuxWV 196 and “Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren” BuxWV 212. This latter setting is also influenced by the echo fantasy. Finally we find works based on large-scale cantus firmus Latin chants – two “Magnificat” settings and the “Te Deum”, and the funeral cantata “Fried- und Freudenreiche Hinfart” BuxWV 76, in which Peretti accompanies the young Hannover soprano Josefine Constanze Göhmann.           
Peretti plays with great clarity, vitality and a genuinely Italianate musicality, completely excluding mere vain virtuosity. His registrations are outstanding – combinations involving mutations, or Quintadena, with reed stops (listen to the wonderful Trechter Regal 8’ in the Rückpositiv), together with the unusual temperament of the organ make for an amazing combination. The Huß-Schnitger organ, restored in the 1970s by Jürgen Ahrend distinguishes itself with its decisive voicing, and its thick, strong and slightly “raw” plenum.

I can recommend these CDs as among the most interesting, intelligent and beautiful recordings of the choral fantasies by Buxtehude available. The booklets, filled with an interesting, and exhausting, commentary and full registration details, complement the playing very well. A word of criticism must be aired however regarding the pictures of Buxtehude, and of the Stade organ. These have been reproduced at a far too low resolution and are thus rather ugly. 

These CDs however should not be judged by their covers…… 

Maria Erdman

 

 

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