Ton Koopman & Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra - Buxtehude: Opera Omnia XX - Vocal Works Volume 10 (2014)

This 2-CD set is the last volume of an outstanding series of recordings in which Ton Koopman and the musicians and singers of Amsterdam Baroque have recorded the complete works of Dieterich Buxtehude.
The featured music on this, the 10th release in the survey to present vocal works, includes a wide range of genres, with performances of concertos, chorales, arias, cantatas and wedding pieces. Ton Koopman celebrated his 70h birthday on 2nd October 2014, and earlier in 2014 he was presented with the prestigious Bach Prize by London's Royal Academy of Music.

The large, substantial, and multi-faceted work of Dieterich Buxtehude represents the period between Heinrich Schütz and Johann Sebastian Bach better than any other contemporaneous composer. The works produced by him during the nearly forty years he held the distinguished position as organist at St. Mary's in Lübeck from 1668 until his death in 1707 also clearly reflect the experimental phase characteristic of sacred music composition at the time. This experimental phase led from the motets, sacred concertos, and chorale settings prevailing before 1650 to the multi-movement cantata, a new genre that with its choruses, recitatives, arias, and chorales defined Lutheran church music after 1700 for many decades. Alongside the many sacred works featured on this album are three secular compositions which Buxtehude wrote for weddings commissioned by prominent families in the city of Lübeck.

Ton Koopman is one of the world's foremost early music specialists and directors. His recording of the complete Bach Cantatas on Challenge Classics received worldwide acclaim. In recent years he has undertaken the daunting task of recording all of the music of the great early baroque composer Dieterich Buxtehude. As president of the International Dieterich Buxtehude Society, Ton Koopman is considered to be one of the world's leading authorities on his music.