Search - Dietrich Buxtehude, Jos van Immerseel, Jonathan Peter Kenny :: Dietrich Buxtehude: 6 Cantatas

The best choral Buxtehude recording available

11/09/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have had the pleasure both of performing (on the harpsichord) and listening to many of the works of Dietrich Buxtehude, and I wish to emphasize that I have never heard any performance of his music as compelling as this recording. I am astonished that the Gramophone reviewer suggests that the performance "lacks polish"; I invite the listener to compare these amazing performances with the very nice, but relatively lackluster, performances by Ton Koopman of a great many of the Buxtehude canatatas. The sense of spiritual joy that Immerseel finds in this music, and the delightful nuances of rhythm and phrasing that he extracts from the performers, is without equal in the recordings of this music. This is a desert island recording!"

Bravo! Waiting for the encores!

Adam Cole | Menlo Park, California | 02/02/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ever wondered who influenced JS Bach in his early days? Bach once walked over 200 miles just to hear Dietrich Buxtehude at the organ. And through the flawless intonation of the musicians, the taut sense of ensemble, and a flowing, emotive reading by Immerseel, this recording reveals a bit of the magic that motivated Bach to undertake such a journey. I find the first track, "Nimm von uns..." especially transporting: with the inexorable march of its elegant, wistful cadences; the emotional tension of its cloying, sinuous chromatic passages; and its keening suspensions with soprano notes like spun-gold laser beams that stretch and then blissfully resolve; this reading embodies throughout an electric luminosity that directly engages the soul of the listener. The remainder of the recording is of similar quality in terms of the choral and string ensembles, but incorporates vocal soloists whose appeal is unavoidably much more subjective. The bass was my favorite; the tenor, a bit bright, perhaps. I was impressed; you'll have to make up your own mind. But--bottom line--if this disc can't move you, it's hard to see how any other Buxtehude recording could suffice to do so."

Buy it Now

Don | Wilmington, Germany | 11/24/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Superb recording. Anyone interested in baroque choral music should own it. And why isn't "Jesu Meins Lebens Leben" more widely known or recorded? It is the highlight of the album."