Search - D. Buxtehude, Lars Ulrik Mortensen :: Buxtehude: Harpsichord Music Vol. 1

Remarkable Music - A Great Composer for Keyboard

Doug - Haydn Fan | California | 10/15/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This recording, previously issued on the DaCapo label, showcases the still under appreciated music of this towering genius of the German Baroque. From the very cover, taken from a contemporary painting of Buxtehude and fellow musician Johann Adam Reincken; through the excellent playing of twenty keyboard selections by harpsichordist Lars Ulrik Mortensen; to the exemplary and unbeatable notes from Buxtehude's main modern critical champion Kerala Snyder - this CD is a first class production all the way. At Naxos' inexpensive price it's only drawback is that you can't hear the samples, as you can on the other Naxos Buxtehude harpsichord CD.



For some reason Amazon lists the wrong selections.

The proper contents list is as follows;



1. Toccata in G major, BuxWV 165

2. Wie schon leuchtet der Morgenstern, in G major, BuxWV 223

3-6. Suite in D minor, BuxWV 233

7. Fuga in B flat major, BuxWV 176

8-11. Suite in C major, BuxWV 226

12-14. Aria in A minor, BuxWV 249

15. Canzona in C major, BuxWV 166

16-19. Partita: Auf meinen lieben Gott, in E minor, BuxWV 179

20. Canzonetta in A minor, BuxWV 225



But don't worry about samples! This is most assuredly the work of a major composer, filled with a level of art quite the equal to his own best compositions. As Professor Snyder observes, Buxtehude's keyboard work falls into three basic categories, 'each associated with particular instruments, free works such as praeludia and toccatas, many of them designated "pedaliter", and thus for organ; settings of german chorales, most of them also requiring the pedal; and...secular dance suites and variations, presumably for harpsichord."



In this CD Mortensen ranges across all three types, and throughout his playing he emphasizes the rich coloring of Buxtehude's music, and brings out the easy way the great composer has of infusing a full range of complexity into relatively straighforward music without a hint of pedantry. The Suites recall the French styles dominant at the time, yet carry their own individualism, and further solidify Buxtehude's ready mastery of the form. The other works can be far freer in their risk-taking, with brilliant and imaginative writing quite the norm. This is great stuff! The opening Toccata requires full technical mastery of the instrument, and explores to the fullest the instrument's capacities. The closing short Canzonetta in A minor must be one of the most visual works in all of Baroque music - and quite the equal of Vivaldi's Four Seasons in its seeming depiction of what can only be mice discovered in the kitchen in the wee hours!



If you like the Baroque and are unfamilar with Buxtehude's keyboard writing you'll wonder like I did why this music flies so far under the radar.



A very very strong recommendation!"