Album

Dietrich Buxtehude, unlike J.S. Bach, was never employed as a composer of sacred music, but he wrote a good deal of it anyway. As a result, much of it has been neglected. That's too bad, for what has appeared on disc thus far shows a composer as distinctive as that revealed by the big organ masterpieces that make up the usual Buxtehude fare. Buxtehude wrote small pieces for connoisseurs (like the symbolically dense Membra Jesu Nostri) as well as larger works that may have been performed at Lübeck's Abendmusiken or evening musicales. The works here, except for a Magnificat anima mea, BuxWV Anh. 1, of dubious authenticity, fall into the latter category; they are choral works, probably non-liturgical, that have a fairly expansive approach to text-setting. The 12-and-a-half-minute Führwar, er trug unsere Krankheit, BuxWV 31 (Truly, he bore our affliction), erects a large structure on 12 lines of text that make up a single utterance, dividing it in to single atoms that each come under strong musical illumination. The music lies halfway between the earlier sacred concerto and the Bachian sequence of arias and choruses, with clearly defined bass solos in two of the works, along with smaller moments of contrast provided by soloists from within the choir. The performances, featuring an assortment of forces including the Renaissance-oriented Dufay Collective instrumental ensemble, are very quiet, deliberate, almost mysterious in a way that seems awkward given the basic accessibility of a work like Der Herr ist mit mir, BuxWV 15 (The Lord Is with Me), which has Bach's directness. Bass Johan Reuter is a competent soloist seemingly under restraints from the hushed nature of the performance as a whole, and the sopranos of the Copenhagen Royal Chapel Choir are not always up to producing a fixed pitch at low volumes. Still and all, there's an X factor that generates a total higher than the sum of the parts here—the group is attuned to the odd mixture of soberness and expressivity that makes Buxtehude's music addictive after you've heard a certain amount of it. This recording was originally released on the Dacapo label, and listeners may wish to seek out that version; Naxos' relegation of the works' texts to the Internet is lamentable.

© James Manheim, All Music Guide

CD 1
Dietrich Buxtehude Composer Das neugeborne Kindelein, for voices, 3 violins, violone, bassoon and continuo, BuxWV13 Work Ebbe Munk Conductor, Dufay Collective Early Music Ensemble, Johan Reuter Bass-baritone, Royal Naval Choir Copenhagen Chorus/Choir
1	Das neugeborne Kindelein, for voices, 3 violins, violone, bassoon and continuo, BuxWV13	7:14			$1.49
Dietrich Buxtehude Composer Der Herr ist mit mir, for SATB voices, 2 violins, violone and continuo, BuxWV15 Work Ebbe Munk Conductor, Dufay Collective Early Music Ensemble, Johan Reuter Bass-baritone, Royal Naval Choir Copenhagen Chorus/Choir
2	Der Herr ist mit mir, for SATB voices, 2 violins, violone and continuo, BuxWV15	8:09			$1.49
Dietrich Buxtehude Composer Fürwahr, er trug unsere Krankheit, Passion cantata for SSATB voices, 2 violins, 2 violas da gamba, violone or basson and continuo, BuxWV31 Work Royal Naval Choir Copenhagen Chorus/Choir, Johan Reuter Bass-baritone, Ebbe Munk Conductor, Jense Radamacher Countertenor, Søren Tidmand Tenor, Morten Pilegaard Jespersen Soprano, Jakob Bloch Bass, Dufay Collective Early Music Ensemble, Jes Boeg Soprano
3	Fürwahr, er trug unsere Krankheit, Passion cantata for SSATB voices, 2 violins, 2 violas da gamba, violone or basson and continuo, BuxWV31	12:34			$1.99
Dietrich Buxtehude Composer Alles, was ihr tut, for SATB voices, 2 violins, 2 violas, violone and continuo, BuxWV4 Work Ebbe Munk Conductor, Dufay Collective Early Music Ensemble, Johan Reuter Bass-baritone, Royal Naval Choir Copenhagen Chorus/Choir
4	Alles, was ihr tut, for SATB voices, 2 violins, 2 violas, violone and continuo, BuxWV4	14:21			$2.49
Dietrich Buxtehude Composer Magnificat, for SSATB voices, 2 violins, 2 violas, violone and continuo, BuxWV Anh1 (doubtful) Work Ebbe Munk Conductor, Dufay Collective Early Music Ensemble, Johan Reuter Bass-baritone, Royal Naval Choir Copenhagen Chorus/Choir
5	Magnificat, for SSATB voices, 2 violins, 2 violas, violone and continuo, BuxWV Anh1 (doubtful)	8:45			$1.49