Andrew Arthur - The Buxtehude Influence (2008)

This two-CD British release doesn't really deliver on the grand promise of its Buxtehude's Influence title. The booklet notes really offer little beyond the reiteration of the familiar story of the young J.S. Bach traveling for miles on foot to hear performances by his north German predecessor Dietrich Buxtehude, and of Buxtehude's clear impact on Bach's joining of free "prelude" pieces to fugues. There aren't pairings of pieces that would show more specific relationships; instead, pieces by Buxtehude and Bach are presented in a loose alternation without even a classification by genre (prelude-type piece, canzona or fugue, and chorale-based piece). Making things more confusing is the tracklist's misattribtion of the Fantasia in G minor (CD 1, track 14) to Buxtehude; as its correct BWV listing indicates, it is by Bach. Better news comes in the individual performances themselves. The organ is not one of the north German behemoths usually deployed in this music, but a new instrument by Danish maker Carsten Lund installed at Cambridge University's Trinity Hall. The space was structurally modified in order to maximize the organ's acoustics, and the results can be called spectacular. It's a quieter instrument than is usual with Bach and Buxtehude, but the clarity of the lines, thanks in part to intelligent registrations by organist Andrew Arthur, is unmatched. Many lovers of Baroque organ music will want to have this recording as part of their collections simply because it sounds so different from the norm, and because it reveals both intricacies of counterpoint and small details of ornamentation. It is less desirable, however, as a starting point for understanding the Buxtehude Influence.