BUXTEHUDE Nichts soll uns scheiden von der Liebe Gottes. Jesu, meine Lebens Leben. Nun danket alle Gott. Lauda Sion salvatorem. Ich habe Lust abzuscheiden. Auf, stimmert die Seiten. Aperite mihi portas justitiae. Herzlich lieb hab ich dich, o Herr. Mein Gemüt erfruet sich. Klinget für Freuden, ihr lärmen Klarinen. Schlagt, Künstler, die Pauken und Saiten. Eins bitte ich vom Herrn. Entreisst euch, meine Sinnen. Jesulein, du Tausendschön. Klinget mit Freuden, ihr klaren Klarinen. Alles was ihr tut mit Worten oder mit Werken • Ton Koopman, cond; Miriam Meyer (sop); Bettina Pahn (sop); Johannette Zomer (sop); Bogna Bartosz (alt); Patrick van Goethem (alt); Hugo Naessens (alt); Jörg Dürmüller (ten); Andreas Karasiak (ten); Donald Bentvelsen (bs); Klaus Mertens (bs); Amsterdam Baroque O & Ch • CHALLENGE 72246 (2 CDs: 147:17 Text and Translation)

Though Buxtehude’s keyboard music is comparatively well represented in the catalog, his vocal music, 120-plus works, is largely absent and therefore still terra incognito to most of his present-day admirers. This release presents an attempt to redress that under-representation. It is also the seventh volume on Koopman’s own “Antoine Marchand” label (distributed by Challenge Classics) issued under the rubric Opera Omnia and dedicated to exploring the length and breadth of Buxtehude’s copious output. I favorably reviewed three previous releases presenting his keyboard music performed by Koopman in Fanfare 31:4, 31:5, and 32: 1, and found this production by Koopman’s Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir, aided and abetted by a fine roster of soloists, overwhelming.

The organ master Buxtehude most likely began to compose vocal music in earnest in 1668, when he took up the prestigious post of organist at St. Mary’s Church in Lübeck. Once there, he was expected to produce music for both secular and churchly use and, given the evidence here, he rose to the challenge admirably. The music on this release can be divided into three categories—arias, concertos, and cantatas. The term “concerto” refers to the kind of structure that informed Heinrich Schütz’s Symphoniae sacrae rather than our modern sense of the word, and, indeed, Schütz’s spirit looms large over Buxtehude’s concertos, most vividly in Aperite mihi portas justitae. The cantatas present an amalgamation of the previous two forms, and in these performances the ever-perspicacious Koopman clearly delineates the earlier influences underpinning this music, and illuminates its influence on Bach’s towering cantatas yet to come.

Like both Schütz and Bach, Buxtehude was deft, resourceful, and beguilingly colorful in his use of instruments, all of which is vividly conveyed by this recording. Koopman’s soloists are all first-class, many of them participants in his distinguished Bach cantata series. His razor-sharp Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Chorus impart their normal clarity and visceral energy, but most important, their unbridled joy in music-making.

FANFARE: William Zagorski