Buxtehude

[Peter Allison]

has anyone heard the first in a new series that Christopher Herrick is currently making? I am looking to start and get a few buxtehude cd's, as there are none in my collection at the moment, I have all the Organ Fireworks (1 to 12) and find them excellent quality, and from a non players point of view, well played, and the organs chosen, not too bad either.

Any views/comments gratefully recieved

Peter

[Jim Treloar]

Radio 3 has already broadcast at least one of the tracks; sounds very good. If you're after Buxtehude don't overlook the 6-box set by Ulrik Spang-Hanssen, very cheap and easily obtainable, which I purchased after recommendations during a previous discussion here. The 6 separate CDs by Bine Bryndorf on the Dacapo label are also excellent.

[Vox Humana]

If you're after Buxtehude don't overlook the 6-box set by Ulrik Spang-Hanssen, very cheap and easily obtainable, which I purchased after recommendations during a previous discussion here.

I have also noticed a 4-CD set occasionally floating by on eBay. I assume this contains selections from the full 6-CD set. The full set is well worth getting - interesting performances and nice organs (of which details here: http://www.ohscatalog.org/bucoulsppl.html, but cheaper copies have been fairly regular on eBay)

[Jim Treloar]

Go to Amazon, enter Buxtehude and Classical Music in the search windows and the Hansen comes up first - £14.99 for the 6 box set. A bargain.

[Graham Powell]

I can also recommend this set http://www.amazon.com/Buxtehude-Organ-Works/dp/B0000007HN - Rene Saorgin playing the organs at Alkmaar, Zwolle, Altenbruch and Arlesheim.

 

It pops up on ebay from time to time - I think I paid between £10 - £15 for it a few years ago.

[Peter Allison]

I always forget about E.Bay and the others, its normally into Banks of York or JG. Windows in Newcastle ( when visiting home) where the prices are all at the far end of the RRP. Many thanks for the choices, I will have to start and look around to see what else there is. Just need the Organ Fireworks vol 12 now

 

Peter

[bazuin]

I am troubled by Christopher Herrick's Buxtehude because I can't see what he can prove by doing it, especially given the large number of already available recordings by specialists in the field. This simply isn't Herrick's repertoire. The choice of organ for the first disc rather confirms the point, a PG Andersen organ from the 1960s. Given the various recordings already mentioned, and most especially that of Harald Vogel featuring a plethora of wonderful historic instruments from Buxtehude's sound world, isn't this a case of missing the mark by a country mile?, (whatever the qualities of the organ - of its type I'm sure its excellent).

 

The clips I have heard to me sound stilted and uncomfortable. Has any one else listened to the whole disc?

 

Greetings

 

Bazuin

[Nick Bennett]

I can also recommend this set http://www.amazon.com/Buxtehude-Organ-Works/dp/B0000007HN - Rene Saorgin playing the organs at Alkmaar, Zwolle, Altenbruch and Arlesheim.

 

It pops up on ebay from time to time - I think I paid between £10 - £15 for it a few years ago.

 

For what it's worth, I would advise against this set. I only have one CD from it (Zwolle) and the organ is recorded most unsympathetically. It is recorded far, far too close. The reeds sound honky, the pedal booms. The gaps between the notes are almost completely silent; some reverberation can be heard, very faintly, at the ends of sections: evidently the engineers failed in their mission to eliminate it completely! The organist presumably could hear the reverberation going on around him and was playing accordingly: because we can't, the result is horribly soulless. I haven't had the perseverance to listen to a single track right through.

[Guest Roffensis]

I still highly regard the Walter Kraft Buxtehude cycle, on Vox, reissued on CD by them, (although IMHO, the records sound far better, more depth and detail, not to mention a distinct lack of CD graininess). Deffo worth seeking out.

 

R

[bazuin]

"I still highly regard the Walter Kraft Buxtehude cycle, on Vox, reissued on CD by them, (although IMHO, the records sound far better, more depth and detail, not to mention a distinct lack of CD graininess). Deffo worth seeking out."

 

Both Saorgin and Kraft are interesting examples of post-war performance practice in the context of Buxtehude. The Lionel Rogg recordings (no complete cycle unfortunately) also come into this category. Saorgin clearly has the advantage as far instruments is concerned. Kraft recorded on his (truly ugly) Kemper organ at the Marienkirche. Tragically, Kraft died in a hotel fire in Amsterdam in the 1970s.

 

Of the currently available 'informed' recordings I like Bryndorf, and, especially the Naxos CDs of Julia Brown. The Harald Vogel cycle (Dabringhaus und Grimm) though has, I think, not yet met its natural successor, and remains my first point of reference, even if my personal preferences sometimes lead me elsewhere.

 

What does the forum think?

 

Greetings

 

Bazuin

[Guest Roffensis]

I actually very much like the organ on the Kraft recordings. The reeds are particularly interesting! How awful that he had such a terrible death. I had no idea.

 

R