Thread: Dieterich Buxtehude

Previously having only been familiarized with some of this composers various organ works, I just stumbled across this:



I found this quite impressive, and was curious as to whether or not there are any fans of this composer among the posters of TC that may have any further suggestions or general information on this great and influential composer!

I can't name specific works... but I quite enjoy Buxtehude's cantatas. As I ended up opting for Gardiner and Suzuki for Bach, I have gone with Koopman in a big way for his choral works and his organ pieces. If you are on Spotify you can listen to a great majority of his works there. I especially like Suzuki's performance of his organ works.

He was basically "the Danish Bach."

I've mainly heard his organ works, which I like heaps. I've got some recordings by Wolfgang Rubsam, Helmut Walcha & others. It's music that I like to kind of chill out to, but it also has real substance, eg. the weaving of the contrapuntal lines, etc. On the whole he's less heavy than J.S. Bach in this area, & I like him more for that reason. When I have time, I'll check out that choral work you posted, it's been on my backburner for a while now...

My Music Mini-Marathon: Buxtehude

I bought a pile of Naxos CDs featuring just Buxtehude's music (they went on sale at that time). JS Bach was familiar with Buxtehude's music and I think listening and reading up on pre-Bach German Baroque composers and their music really brings one to appreciate Bach's music even more, and also realise that career wise, Bach was really just like many others of his contemporaries who chose a more local church oriented path. Buxtehude's music (both vocal and instrumental) was German Baroque inside out, and the influence of the church was pervasive throughout.

I also have other CDs by other period instrument groups. Membra Jesu nostri, BuxWV75 seems to be a standard Buxtehude favourite, juding by the number of recordings of it around compared with his other works. I also have the Bach Collegium Japan/Suzuki version, which I can recommend.

JS Bach was familiar with Buxtehude's music and I think listening and reading up on pre-Bach German Baroque composers and their music really brings one to appreciate Bach's music even more...

Yes. I was playing Bach's organ works in my studio this summer under the ideal conditions: LOUD AS HELL. After listening to the great Passacaglia and Fugue my studio mate exclaimed, "What the f*** was he thinking?!" He was absolutely stunned by the audacity of this great wall of sound churning endlessly through the same hypnotic theme. Bach has the knack for repeatedly building upon a pre-existing form and taking it to an absolutely unheard-of... unimaginable height. Just as with Handel and Brahms and a number of other composers, it is possible to become complacent about Bach... and even dismiss him as the overly stodgy religious composer... and yet he can be so incredibly audacious... and then turn around and toss off the most exquisitely beautiful passages or arias in one of his hundreds of cantatas... and do this again and again and again...



Not to bury our poor Mr. Buxtehude:

To add to what I said before, I quite like Buxtehude's chaconnes, like THIS one. The harmonies & colours are kind of light, it's not exactly easy listening, but compared to some others it is lighter. Maybe it's with being Danish or in the North German area, perhaps there were some links to places further West like France, the organ music of which does tend to be more delicate & less full-on than J.S. Bach, etc...

Jos Van Immerseel's cantata recording is outstanding.

I haven't heard much about Buxtehude, but I quite like this cantata

Listening to his Organ works right now. Very nice. Probably my favorite composer in the early part of Baroque. His Sonatas are nice as well. Heard one of them on youtube.

Oh wow, this is really amazing. Buxtehude is going on my list of composers I need to get to know more.

I've always enjoyed the organ works of Buxtehude, possibly because I am of Danish heritage, but the music is very agreeable to my senses, both as a listener and as a player.

I played a Ciaconna (e minor) just last weekend for one of my church services.

I've been really enjoying the Buxtehude organ set by Walter Kraft. In time his may be a body of keyboard works I'd put on par with Scarlatti.

I've played a movement from one of his harpsichord suites. Its quite unpredictable music and full and satisfying as well. But sometimes a little strange, which in my book is good.

I love Buxtehude's cantatas, especially "Jesu membra nostri". I can barely find something from Bach's to top it up. And of course, the Organ works, highly contrapunctual pieces and with a "softer" feeling overall. I still have much to discover from this master.

Does anyone have any recommendations for recordings of some of his chamber works?