Buxtehude instrumental music

Author(s): Geoffrey Webber

Source: Early Music, Vol. 40, No. 1 (February 2012), pp. 145-147
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41502372
Accessed: 11-06-2023 11:46 +00:00

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technique, the basso continuo, and choices in regard
to the instrumentation and performance practice. This
unusual approach is interesting, but some more 'standard'
information would have also been beneficial. A debatable
decision, though, is to include scenes from Monteverdi's
Orfeo and the Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda in
which Beasley sings all the roles. With such an emphasis
on authentic singing practice, why would one choose to
perform these works in such a way that surely can not be
claimed to be authentic?
The fact that the new style of vocal composition in
early 17th-century Italy was not limited to pieces for just
one solo voice becomes evident in the 2008 recording The
Queen's Music: Italian vocal duets and trios (BIS
Bis-CD-1715, ree 2008, 68'). Two of Britain's best-known
singers of early music, Emma Kirkby and Peter Harvey,
join forces with Swedish soprano Susanne Rydén for this
outstanding recording. The nationalities of the perform-
ers also correspond to the history of the source the pieces
were chosen from: a manuscript now in Christ Church,
Oxford, which can be connected to the Swedish Queen
Christina. It represents the music sung at her court in
around 1650, when she employed a large ensemble of
Italian singers and instrumentalists. The manuscript
was in all likelihood presented to the English traveller
Bulstrode Whitelocke (sent to negotiate a treaty between
the two countries) in 1654, and contains arias and cantatas
by some of the leading Italian composers of the time,
including Luigi Rossi, Giacomo Carissimi and Girolamo
Frescobaldi.
For the recording, the singers have chosen duets and
trios, in various combinations of the three voices. The
execution is as you would expect from three so experi-
enced performers: a delicate balance of joyful lightheart-
edness and dramatic expression, between technical
accuracy and emotional insight, informed by years of
practice. Emma Kirkby's voice has not lost its much-
acclaimed agility, and her experience makes up for the
only very occasional lack of brilliance. When she is
joined by Rydén the two sopranos are similar enough
to blend nicely, but different enough to make dialogues
interesting. It is in the trios, such as I navigati by Car-
issimi (the longest piece on the recording), that the
musicality of the three soloists becomes clearest. The
accompaniment is light, leaving the voices to take centre
stage. Overall there is little to criticize here; the result
is very enjoyable entertainment as well as a welcome
performance of music from this manuscript which
reveals the great extent of musical exchange in early
modern Europe.
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Websites
Ambronay www.ambronay.org
Analekta www.analekta.com
Atma www.atmaclassique.com
BIS www.bis.se
Cypres www.cypres-records.com
Glossa www.glossamusic.com
doi: 10.1093/em/cas002
Advance Access published on February 7, 2012
Geoffrey Webber
Buxtehude instrumental music
This group of CDs contains chamber music, organ music
and harpsichord music from Ton Koopman's ongoing
recording of all of Buxtehude's music, the 'Opera Omnia',
together with new recordings by other musicians of works
in the same categories. Readers may wish to refer back to
earlier reviews in this journal covering this repertory since
much of what is discussed here follows on from earlier
observations by Peter Holman ( Early Music, xxx/3 (2007),
pp. 385-96), Robert Quinney (Early Music, xxxvii/3 (2009),
pp.501-2) and myself ( Early Music, xxxvii/i (2009),
pp.132-5).
Koopman's project continues to bring up surprises
and challenges to our understanding of Buxtehude's
oeuvre. The principal controversy raised by his two new
CDs of chamber music, Opera Omnia XII: Sonatas from
manuscript sources (Challenge Classics CC72251, ree 2010,
59') and Opera Omnia XIII: Trio sonatas opus 1 (Chal-
lenge Classics CC72252, ree 2010, 60') is that he uses three
instruments for the continuo part - harpsichord, organ
and lute - and generally two together, one keyboard
instrument and the lute. Although there is some evidence
that Buxtehude used the organ for some performances of
his chamber music, there is nothing to suggest that he
may have desired more than one harmony instrument at
any one time. In the recording of op.i from the Purcell
Quartet, VII Suonate, Op.i (Chandos chan 0766, ree
2008/9, 57' )> only the harpsichord is used, as stated on the
front page of Buxtehude's publication of c.1694. Peter
Holman's sleeve notes for this recording mention the
possibility of using an organ, but the Purcell Quartet
performs as a trio throughout, with the two violinists of
the quartet taking turns to play the violin parts in differ-
ent sonatas, alongside the gamba and harpsichord.
EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 2012 I45
Few observers would censure Koopman out of hand on
account of his liberal approach, but his choice is bound
to divide opinion when it comes to assessing the success
of his decision. One advantage is that it lends greater
variety when listening to a whole CD in one sitting, and
indeed to individual sonatas (since the performers often
vary the scoring between and even within the sections),
but the recurring disadvantage is that Buxtehude's music
too often becomes submerged in the complexities of the
organ/lute or harpsichord/lute textures, especially on
account of Koopman's typically free and florid realiza-
tions at the keyboard. He reports in the sleeve notes that
'the musicians improvised abundantly and to their hearts'
content'. My own heart sank when I read that, but in fact
there were only a few moments when I felt a line had been
crossed, usually by Koopman himself. It is fortunately
only in the free sections that Koopman and his team
attempt to open things up significantly, but these sections
are amongst the most interesting parts of the sonatas, and
not everyone will like what happens to them here. The
concern must be that when a group of players is encour-
aged to improvise and embellish their parts simultan-
eously, the individuals will have less capacity to listen to
each other, and so less attention is paid to the effect of
the whole, and also that in the slow sections the tempos
become too slow in order to allow the extra passagework.
To take a simple example, at the end of the Adagio in op.i
пол, the two string parts both have tied notes leading to
a 6/4 suspension and resolution. In Koopman's recording
the string parts both crescendo through their notes, as
one would expect, but at different times, the violin first
and then the gamba; however, in the Purcell Quartet's
performance they both crescendo at the same time, work-
ing together to produce a good harmonic effect clearly
prompted by the written notes.
Successful accounts of these sonatas depend to a large
extent on achieving a good balance between the sound of
the instruments themselves. In both recordings this is
achieved well in terms of volume, but there is a greater
clarity in the gamba part, especially in lower registers, on
the recording by the Purcell Quartet, giving it a distinct
advantage. A further difference between the two recordings
is that the string players in the Purcell Quartet tend to use
a greater variety of bow and finger effects. In Koopman's
performances the emphasis seems again to be on adding
notes rather than thinking of how to bring variety and
colour to the notes the composer left us. Koopman's
recording of the manuscript sonatas includes both sonatas
considered to be of dubious authorship by many, buxwv268
and Buxwv Anh.5, and the second of these now even has
146 EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 2012
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a plausible alternative composer, Antonio Bertali, though
this is not discussed in the liner notes.
Although several complete recordings of Buxtehude's
organ music have been undertaken, Koopman's 'Opera
Omnia' contains the first complete recording of the
harpsichord music. This spreads over four CDs, the
last pair of which are considered here: Opera Omnia
VI: Harpsichord works 2 (Challenge Classics CC72245, ree
2007, 97'). The last CD is only 35 minutes long, and three
CDs would have sufficed but for Koopman's excellent
decision to include some of the works long published
amongst his organ works, such as the Toccata in G
BUXWV165. Even some of the more contrapuntally con-
ceived works are included, such as the Canzona in D
minor BUXWV168, and this certainly produces attractive
play-lists. Colin Booth's new release, Buxtehude: Suites
and variations (Soundboard sbcd 207, ree 2007, 78'))
achieves variety by alternating variations and suites,
though some may not like his decision to cut down the
Variations in G BUXWV250 'La Capricciosa' into his own
shortened version. Koopman uses three instruments by
Willem Kroesbergen: a Ruckers harpsichord and virginal
and an Italian harpsichord after Stefanini, whilst Booth
uses his own instrument built in 2005 after a French
harpsichord of 1681 (Antoine Vaudry), and both use
unequal temperaments. Perhaps the French instrument
partly governed Booth's decision to use notes inégales in
many movements of the Suites. The genre itself is of
course French, and his decision to play in such a French
manner makes sense, but Koopman's (in this case) stricter
rhythmic interpretation seems to me better suited to the
nature of these works. The difference between these two
approaches should not be underestimated; listening to
the Allemande from the Suite in F BUXWV239 on both
recordings it is hard to believe one is listening to the same
piece, especially given Koopman's addition of a flattened-
7th cadence at the conclusion. But for those who do not
mind their Buxtehude inégale Booth's recording has
many delights, and his playing is every bit as lively as
Koopman's but without the liberties. Koopman's set is
particularly significant on account of its comprehensiveness
(and broad approach to what constitutes the harpsichord
repertory), and his playing of the deceptively simple
suites in particular is very persuasive.
Robert Quinney (as noted above) understandably
paid little attention to the first volume of Christopher
Herrick's complete recording of Buxtehude's organ works
since it was recorded on a 1960s instrument in equal tem-
perament (albeit in Helsingor, where Buxtehude spent
part of his youth). But for these next two volumes, The
complete organ works, volume 2 (Hyperion cda 67809,
ree 2009, 76') and The complete organ works, volume 3
(Hyperion cda 67855, ree 2010, 76'), Herrick has used the
Ahrend reconstruction of the Joachim Wagner organ of
Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim (vol.2), which is in a
modified Werckmeister temperament, and the 2005
Hildebrandt-style organ by Aubertin in the church of
St-Louis-en-llle in Paris (vol.3), in a temperament by
Young. For the two volumes of organ works by Koopman
considered here, Opera Omnia III: Organ works 1
(Challenge Classics CC72242, ree 2006, 60') and Opera
Omnia X: Organ works 5 (Challenge Classics CC72249,
ree 2008, 114'), Koopman uses the Coci/Klapmeyer
organ of the St Nicolai Kirche, Altenbruch, in modified
Werckmeister III (vol.i), and the Bielfeldt organ in
St Wilhadi, Stade, in modified Werckmeister II (vol.5).
Herrick's recordings were made in more reverberant
spaces with organs at a=455 and a=440 respectively,
whilst Koopman's are in drier, more intimate spaces, and
at pitches closer to the norm for Buxtehude's environ-
ment, a=478.6 and a=473 respectively. Given the exten-
sive source problems associated with this repertory it is
sensible that neither organist sticks slavishly to one edi-
tion, though as one might expect, Koopman takes a freer
approach to the notes than Herrick, either by adding large
helpings of ornamentation and other embellishment or
by his own editorial changes to the inherited material,
such as the extended echo passage he adds at the end of
the Praeludium in G minor BUXWV150. Both organists use
8' stops as well as 16' stops for the lower voices of the fugai
sections, though Koopman sometimes uses both within
a single section, and both top and tail the large-scale
free works on tutti-style registrations. Koopman has a
tendency to find as many echoes as possible, even within
a pedal solo. Herrick has a recurring preference for 8' and
2' registrations for lively sections (a technique that is
often favoured when playing Baroque music on Romantic-
style organs), and tends to mix stops together even when
playing softly in some of the chorale settings, so that there
is little opportunity to hear the beauty of individual reg-
isters on his chosen organs. These characteristics may be
seen as old-fashioned, and Koopman avoids them entirely,
though the latter does not seem keen to follow the inter-
esting path led by Harald Vogel towards the concept of
consort-style registrations for the fugai sections in par-
ticular. Herrick's articulation is also sometimes prone to
sounding close to the older slur-and-dot school of articu-
lation, used very unexpectedly at the start of the Ciacona
in E minor BUXWV160, which I have never heard sound so
perky (once again on 8' and 2' stops), but this problem is
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far from ubiquitous in his playing, and I particularly
enjoyed the excitement generated through a close control
of articulation and rhythm in moto perpetuo. Koopman
states in his note to volume 1 of Buxtehude's organ music
that 'to do his compositions justice we need a "macho"
playing style and virtuosity', and that is certainly what one
hears throughout the free works in particular (even to the
point where the instrument struggles to cope), but he
reserves his most dramatic playing for the unexpected bonus
of the complete organ works of Buxtehude's pupil Nicolaus
Bruhns as an Appendix to the final CD. The start of the
larger Praeludium in E minor is arresting in most perform-
ances one hears of this piece, but here Koopman takes it to
another level - you have been warned. However, although
the chorale fantasia 'Nun komm der Heiden Heiland' is
listed here as being played in the 'original version' with 'dim-
inutions by Ton Koopman' - i.e. not the highly ornamented
version by Johann Walther - his performance is very close in
spirit to Walther 's version, and the more spontaneous and
personal ornamentation (though always remaining essen-
tially 18th century in nature) makes for a very convincing
and enjoyable rendition of the work, even if Bruhns may
have ornamented the work in a different manner.
Finally, there is an aspect of interpretation of the non-
fugal sections of Buxtehude's free works which seems to
me to be under-explored on both recordings: the amount
of emphasis given to dissonance, and suspensions in par-
ticular. The Toccata in D minor BUXWV155 contains a few
examples of the glorious 9-7 double suspension that Bux-
tehude probably learnt from contemporary French music,
but these are almost excised from the score in Koopman's
performance (vol.5). In bar 59 (or 60 depending on your
edition), he lifts the Tenor note E at the crucial moment,
and in bar 124 (or 122) the suspension is lost beneath a host
of added ornamentation. Similarly, in bars 124-5 of the
Praeludium in F buxwvi45, Herrick similarly releases the
crucial note too early, so that the full affect of the aug-
mented triad is not heard (vol.3). Fortunately, despite the
wealth of recordings of Buxtehude's organ music on his-
toric instruments in recent years, we are far from exhaust-
ing the way we re-create this magnificent repertory.
Websites
Challenge Classics www.challenge.nl
Chandos www.chandos.net
Hyperion www.hyperion-records.co.uk
Soundboard www.soundboard-records.co.uk
doi: 10.1093/em/cas009
Advance Access published on February 8, 2012
EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 2012 I47