Customer Reviews

Buxtehude: Organ Works

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Unlike the previous reviewer, I was totally pleased with this CD. The selections are well chosen and quite accessible. The registrations are interesting and imaginative. I did not find Koopman's playing "edgy", and his embellishments were attractive and neither all-pervasive nor intrusive. I found #11, Wie schon leuchtet, partiularly charming with its use of the cymbelstern; also the very soft playing of the C Major Fugue, which often receives a far noisier treatment.

This is, as far as I know, the only Buxtehude record by Koopman. It is typical Koopman: abrupt, very ornamented, and strongly contrasted.

I myself prefer a more flowing version, that is, where the rhethorics come from deep breathing and large curves than this approach. This is too abrupt, too brutal for my taste.

However, if you enjoy Koopman's playing in Bach this is a good introduction to the dark, excessive world of the arguably best ever composer for the organ, Dietrich Buxtehude.