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5.0 out of 5 stars
Gorgeous recording of an underrated composer, May 3, 2001
This review is from: Nicolaus Bruhns: Organ Works / Cantatas (Audio CD)
This recording was made in 1997, at the 300th anniversary of the death of Nicolaus Bruhns (1665-1697), and a fitting tribute it is. This is fantastic music (literally, Bruhns having composed organ music in what is called stylus phantasticus). Bruhns is a vastly underrated composer, one generation before J.S. Bach, whose musical output would probably have matched Bach's, had he lived more than thirty-one years. As it is, we have this magnificent recording, which offers a large portion of what little Bruhns did leave behind: three cantatas (out of the twelve that he wrote) and all five extant organ pieces. (The recording includes two versions of the chorale-prelude "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland".) The recording includes two separate groups of musicians: Jan Willem Jansen playing the organ works on two different organs in Toulouse, France, and Le Parlement de Musique, under the direction of Martin Gester, playing (and singing) the three cantatas.
The liner notes are in French and English, and they include full registrations for the two organs used in the recording. Noticeably missing in the liner notes, however, are the texts of the cantatas. The singing and playing is of a consistently high quality, and the recording clocks in at a generous 74'15". This recording gives us a valuable glimpse into one of the "three Bs" of North German organ music, the others being Buxtehude and Bach. Highly recommended, especially for Bach fans.
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