The seemingly inexhaustible energies of Dutch conductor and instrumentalist
Ton Koopman have now been turned to Dieterich Buxtehude, a composer whose vast output is still known only in bits and pieces. It requires a musician of
Koopman's diverse talents, and the early indications for this set of Opera Omnia are positive indeed. Consider this group of early organ works, largely predating those that Bach would have heard after his famed 250-mile walk to hear Buxtehude play. They have deep roots in the improvisatory practices in which Buxtehude would have been schooled, and indeed some of Buxtehude's organ music was preserved only because Bach himself wrote it down. The imposing pedaliter (or pedal-employing) pieces such as the opening Toccata for organ in F major, BuxWV 157, have a craggy, irregular quality that's extremely characteristic of Buxtehude and quite dissimilar to Bach, no matter how many elements of basic language the two composers share. Those works are interspersed with quieter chorale-based pieces closer to Bach's chorale preludes in mood, but even those have an unusual quality of fantasy. Compare Nun komm der Heiden Heiland, BuxWV 211 (track 5), with Bach's settings of this ubiquitous tune.
Koopman's realization of these works is compelling, even for listeners unfamiliar with the technical issues involved in organ music. The Wilde/Schnitger organ he uses, located in Lüdingworth, north of Bremen, Germany, was built in 1599 and expanded in 1682, around the time much of this music was composed. Less monumental than the organs on which many Buxtehude recordings up to now have been made, it has a marvelous tactile sense that seems to bring the listener into an immediate relationship with the player, and the clarity of detail in the sound is noteworthy. Strongly recommended, even for listeners who can take or leave the "minor" organ composers of the German Baroque.