The Netherlands Bach Society & Jos van Veldhoven - Buxtehude: Membra Jesu Nostri (2006) [Hi-Res]

This cycle, which is clearly not intended for liturgical use and dedicated to his friend Gustav Dben, must indubitably be seen as an expression of Buxtehude’s own religious experience and personal devotion. In fact, we know unusually little about this great musician; no personal letters or anecdotes have survived. His music speaks to us all the more powerfully – especially the Membra Jesu Nostri, with its highly personal combination of introverted expressivity, deliberately simple declamation (here and there it can even be called naive), and great harmonic richness. No matter how alien the content of the medieval Latin text may be to our 21st-century sensibilities, it nevertheless inspired Buxtehude to produce a visionary setting, in a vivid cycle of compositions which still go straight to our hearts. Pieter Dirksen (from liner notes)