I had the chance to listen to an organ recital Sunday at which a couple of Buxtehude's Organ preludes were featured. I was wondering if anyone could recommend good CD recordings of his work.

Thanks!

I have never heard of Dietrich Buxtehude before. Do you know what time era he was from? If you do find a recording of his work, be sure and let me know what it is so that I can go out and see if its any good for myself. I don't like organ music as much as I like piano music, but its still pretty good.

Hi jgoo -

Thanks for responding. Buxtehude lived from ca. 1637 - 1707 and was the organist and Werkmeister of St. Mary's Lübek. It is said that a young J.S. Bach had walked 280 miles to hear him play.

I first heard Buxtehude's work performed at a Choral Evensong I participated in last May, when the Organist/Choirmaster of the choir I sing in had performed his Prelude and Fugue in D Major as a prelude to the Evensong. I heard another couple of his organ pieces at a recital I attended at the Duke Chapel a couple of weeks ago. A friend of mine, who used to play the organ until health problems caused her to stop, had recommended to me to try his complete chamber works. So I decided to take the plunge and check out his Complete Chamber Music, Vol. 1; URL linked to Amazon.com is here:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000466J/ref=pd_sim_music/103-0290995-1902231

If there is interest, I'll let you know what I think of this CD. However, I'm still all ears as to recommendations of Buxtehude's organ works.

My recommendation would be to check out any of Harald Vogel's recordings of Buxtehude. Vogel's a wonderful organist and without, imo, peer in this music. (You can order them through Amazon.com). Happy listening!

netizen -

Thanks heaps for your recommendation. I'll be sure to check it out!

I was just reading this morning in Christoph Wolff's "Johann Sebastian Bach -- The Learned Musician" (a great book so far) about Buxtehude's influence on Bach and Bach's visit to him in Luebeck. I'm looking forward to picking up some of Buxtehude's music now. Thanks for the recommendations.

Brad

Ahh yes, good ol' Dietrich Buxtehude. While poking around on the net, I came across his Prelude and Fugue in F-Sharp Minor for Organ, which I fell in love with. I've since tried to find any sheet music or recordings of him, but he's a bit of an unknown, desptie the fact that his music organ music can nearly stand up to Bach's, and I've had no luck at all finding anything. Let me know if you do, ChemicalGrl. Cheers.

-Prae

The Organ Historical Society sells sheet music of various composers, including Buxtehude. However, to get the hard copy versions, you would be paying an arm and a leg. A friend of mine just got Bach's complete organ works and his Church Cantatas on CD-ROM at a fraction of the cost that they would have been had he gotten them hard copy. Interestingly enough, there is available a CD-ROM entitled "Baroque Organ Music".

Its description:

Scores of all the organ works of Buxtehude, Foberger, Pachelbel, and Sweelinck (over 1,100 pages of music) are complied on a single CD-R. Also included are all of the concerti of Handel in conductor's scores (not arranged for organ alone) and one work of John Bull.

The Organ Historical Society Catalog Web Page:
http://www.ohscatalog.org

Hope this helps.