Album

Dietrich Buxtehude is a composer whose reputation is on the rise as performers look beyond the organ works that Bach took a 300-mile stroll to hear, and find a wealth of other riches. This disc, the second of a pair issued by its performers covering the similar repertory, focuses on a group of highly accomplished religious pieces for one or more voices and instruments, without chorus. Unlike Bach during most of his career, Buxtehude was an organist first and foremost; another Lübeck composer took care of the weekly vocal music for church. Though they are presented as a unitary set by the packaging and liner notes, the works on this album are of two sharply different types. Some are for small groups of voices, plus a small string group and continuo. It's easy to imagine these being sung on a Sunday in the living room of a well-established Lübeck merchant family; they have an intimate devotional quality that is familiar to us from Bach's music but that comes through especially nicely in this comparatively unusual setting. Other cantatas are for a solo voice, and these were not sung in anyone's home; they are fiery works for trained singers that Buxtehude must have had at his disposal. Some of the music is in German, the rest in Latin, and Buxtehude seems to have partially inspired Bach's ability to wring dramatic impact out of the sonic characteristics of a single German word. Try singing "nichts" repeatedly and rapidly as the performers here must do; they pull it off perfectly.

Four top English soloists—soprano Emma Kirkby, countertenor Michael Chance, tenor Charles Daniels, and bass Peter Harvey—plus the Purcell Quartet handle these varied chores well in general. Those who want to hear Kirkby pushed to her limits can do so in the "Gloria Patri" movement of the cantata Dixit Dominus Domino meo, BuxWV 17, and the other soloists except for Harvey also get their athletic moments. Chance plays a bit loose with the pitch but is highly expressive. In the vocal-ensemble cantatas this English group does especially well in structures that point back to the middle seventeenth century—ground basses, little strophic movements. Their precise style feels a little restrained in the moments where Buxtehude is closest to Bach, but some listeners may like it that way. In any event, this is an above-average exposition of some unfamiliar and quite important music.

© James Manheim, All Music Guide

CD 1
Dietrich Buxtehude Composer Das neugeborne Kindelein, for voices, 3 violins, violone, bassoon and continuo, BuxWV13 Work Reiko Ichise Viola da Gamba, Peter Harvey Bass, Clare Salaman Violin, Emma Kirkby Soprano, Michael Chance Countertenor, Charles Daniels Tenor, Purcell Quartet Ensemble
1	Das neugeborne Kindelein, for voices, 3 violins, violone, bassoon and continuo, BuxWV13	6:45			$0.99
Dietrich Buxtehude Composer Quaemadmodum desiderat cervus, for tenor, 2 violins and continuo, BuxWV92 Work Reiko Ichise Viola da Gamba, Charles Daniels Tenor, Purcell Quartet Ensemble
2	Quaemadmodum desiderat cervus, for tenor, 2 violins and continuo, BuxWV92	7:44			$1.49
Dietrich Buxtehude Composer Nichts soll uns Scheiden, for SAB voices, 2 violins, violone and continuo, BuxWV77 Work 10:20 Reiko Ichise Viola da Gamba, Peter Harvey Bass, Emma Kirkby Soprano, Michael Chance Countertenor, Purcell Quartet Ensemble
3	1.Nichts soll uns scheiden von der Liebe Gottes	2:34			$0.99
4	2.Wie sollte wohl heißen das zeitliche Leiden	1:54			$0.99
5	3.Auch ist kein erschaffnes Vermögen zu nennen	2:00			$0.99
6	4.Denn Gott hat die Liebe so hoch ja getrieben	3:52			$0.99
Dietrich Buxtehude Composer Dixit Dominus Domino meo (Psalm 109), for soprano, 2 violins, 2 violas, spinet, violone and continuo, BuxWV17 Work 9:59 Reiko Ichise Viola da Gamba, Rachel Byrt Viola, Jane Rogers Viola, Emma Kirkby Soprano, Purcell Quartet Ensemble
7	1.Sonata	0:44			$0.99
8	2.Dixit Dominus Domino meo	2:43			$0.99
9	3.Juravit Dominus	0:52			$0.99
10	4.Dominus a dextris tuis confregit in die irae suae reges	1:30			$0.99
11	5...conquassabit capita in terra multorum	1:22			$0.99
12	6.Gloria patri et filio et spiritui sancto	2:48			$0.99
Dietrich Buxtehude Composer An Filius non est Dei, for ATB voices, 2 violins, viola da gamba and continuo, BuxWV6 Work 12:06 Reiko Ichise Viola da Gamba, Peter Harvey Bass, Michael Chance Countertenor, William Hunt Cello, Charles Daniels Tenor, Purcell Quartet Ensemble
13	1.Sonata	1:16			$0.99
14	2.An filius non est Dei	1:28			$0.99
15	3.Quin immo Jesus est meus	5:12			$0.99
16	4.Tu nectar es verissimum	1:09			$0.99
17	5.Longe sapor dulcissime	1:44			$0.99
18	6.Amen	1:17			$0.99
Dietrich Buxtehude Composer Lobe den Herrn meine Seele, for tenor, 3 violins, 2 violas, violone and continuo, BuxWV71 Work 9:18 Reiko Ichise Viola da Gamba, Rachel Byrt Viola, Clare Salaman Violin, Charles Daniels Tenor, Purcell Quartet Ensemble
19	1.Sonata	0:42			$0.99
20	2.Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele	2:12			$0.99
21	3.Der dir alle deine Sünde vergibet	4:02			$0.99
22	4.Der deinen Mut fröhlich macht	1:26			$0.99
23	5.Alleluia	0:56			$0.99
Dietrich Buxtehude Composer Jesu komm mein Trost und Lachen, for ATB voices, 2 violins, violetta, violone and continuo, BuxWV58 Work Reiko Ichise Viola da Gamba, Peter Harvey Bass, Rachel Byrt Viola, Michael Chance Countertenor, Charles Daniels Tenor, Purcell Quartet Ensemble
24	Jesu komm mein Trost und Lachen, for ATB voices, 2 violins, violetta, violone and continuo, BuxWV58	9:02			$1.49
Dietrich Buxtehude Composer Herr, nun lässt du deinen Diener, for tenor, 2 violins and continuo, BuxWV37 Work 6:38 Reiko Ichise Viola da Gamba, Charles Daniels Tenor, Purcell Quartet Ensemble
25	1.Sinfonia	0:41			$0.99
26	2.Herr, nun läßt du deinen Diener im Friede fahren	1:43			$0.99
27	3...denn meine Augen haben deinen Heiland geschen	2:17			$0.99
28	4...ein Licht zu erleuchten die Heiden	1:57			$0.99
Dietrich Buxtehude Composer Jesu dulcis memoria, for ATB voices, 2 violins and continuo, BuxWV57 Work Reiko Ichise Viola da Gamba, Peter Harvey Bass, Michael Chance Countertenor, Charles Daniels Tenor, Purcell Quartet Ensemble
29	Jesu dulcis memoria, for ATB voices, 2 violins and continuo, BuxWV57	7:20			$1.49