Buxtehude - Membra Jesu Nostri - Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan

 

Release Date: August 7, 2000 Label: BIS Number of discs: 1 Composer: Buxtehude Performer: Bach Collegium Japan cd info/ buy

Review:

Membra Jesu Nostri (English: The Limbs of our Jesus), BuxWV 75, is a cycle of seven cantatas composed by Dieterich Buxtehude in 1680, and dedicated to Gustaf Düben. The full Latin title Membra Jesu nostri  patientis sanctissima translates to "The most holy limbs of our suffering Jesus". This work is known as the first Lutheran oratorio. The text, Salve mundi salutare – also known as the Rhythmica oratio – is a poem written by Medieval poet Arnulf of Louvain (died 1250). It is divided into seven parts, each addressed to a different part of Christ's crucified body: feet, knees, hands, side, chest, heart, and head. In each part Bible words referring to the limbs frame verses of the poem.

 

flac, cover

Buxtehude - Membra Jesu Nostri - Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque

 

Release Date: 1997 Label: Erato Number of discs: 1 Composer: Buxtehude Performer: Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra  cd info/ buy

Review:

Membra Jesu certainly deserves its relatively celebrated status. In 1680, Buxtehude fashioned in a cycle of seven quasi-cantatas (really tableaux) a supersensitive contemplation in seven parts of Christ's crucified body. The feet, knees, hands, side, breast, heart and face become the subject for imaginative poetic treatment (sung by solo voices) whose stall is set through a single biblical reference, set as a polyphonic vocal concerto. Each cantata in 'Membra' is divided into six sections: an instrumental introduction, a 'concerto' for instruments and five voices(SAATB) with the exception of the fifth and sixth cantatas where only three voices are used; three 'arias' for one or three voices, each followed by an instrumental 'ritornello', and an exact reprise of the concerto. The first and last cantatas of the cycle deviate from the pattern. In the first cantata 'Ad Pedes' the choir repeats the first aria after the reprise; in the last cantata 'Ad Faciem' five parts sing the last aria and then a final 'Amen' the chorus substituting for the reprise; this concludes the cycle. The formula is a winning one and contains some deeply touching passages, none more so than the lightly bowed genuflecting gestures in the Sonata "Ad genua" or the agonizing dissonances of the implied nails penetrating "Ad manus". For a sustained and concentrated meditation in brilliantly crafted mid-baroque musical language, "Ad car" is arguably the piece de resistance; employing five viols, Buxtehude leads us into the symbolic maze of the heart's yearning, a tantalizing mixture of profound spirituality and sexual allusion.

 

ape, covers

The Fantastic Style - Christian Brembeck, harpsichord

The Fantastic Style - Christian Brembeck, harpsichord
Keyboard | single flac, cue | no log, cover | 1 CD, 389 MB
released 2004 | Gema | RapidShare

The notion of "Fantastic Style," a musical term not even covered in The New Grove, is becoming quite a buzzword in connection with recorded compilations of Baroque bizarreness. In 1650, theorist Athanasius Kircher defined Stylus Phantasticus as "a most liberated form of composition, free from any constraints of text or predetermined harmony, to display genius." Other descriptions of this style vary somewhat as to the details, but with the basics remaining essentially the same, such as in the writings of Johann Mattheson and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach more than a century later. Harpsichordist Christian Brembeck has assembled a program on this theme in his Musicaphon release Der fantastische Styl that attempts to trace this style, and its distinctive approach, in seventeenth and eighteenth century German keyboard music. Previous discs devoted to Stylus Phantasticus find it largely in violin music, and that limited it to the middle of the seventeenth century, about the time when Kircher was writing about it.

In terms of elucidating the program's theme, the 10 works here do a splendid job of illustrating German Stylus Phantasticus save the first three, being works of Dietrich Buxtehude that seem rather typical examples of seventeenth century German keyboard music. The Chaconne in G of Georg Böhm certainly works well within the format with its pungent dissonances and highly chromatic twists and turns. One might think that Johann Sebastian Bach so well absorbed and digested his influences that the possibility of locating Bach works directly reflecting Stylus Phantasticus would be unlikely. However, Bach's stormy, minor-key Fantasia in A minor, BWV 922 and Toccata in D major, BWV 912 certainly do fit the bill. These are early works, and at least in Bach's formative years he has something to say about this eccentric and turbulent genre, handed down to him by the "genius" organists he admired most.

Brembeck plays on a 16-foot clavicembalo, a reproduction of an instrument originally built by Hieronymus Albrecht Hass in 1734. It has a big, resonant sound like a Ruckers, although richer and deeper -- the resounding bass notes in Georg Böhm's Praeludium and Fuga & Postludium in G manage to travel through your abdomen thanks to Musicaphon's excellent recording. Whether or not one feels that all of the music here is truly representative of "Fantastic Style," Christian Brembeck is a nonetheless a fantastic player. This alone is sufficient reason for fans of period keyboard music to desire an encounter with Musicaphon's Der fantastische Styl. ~ Uncle Dave Lewis, All Music Guide

CD Content

Buxtehude Praeludium for keyboard in G minor, BuxWV 163 6:58
Buxtehude Aria and 3 Variations, for harpsichord in A minor, BuxWV 249 6:48
Buxtehude Chorale prelude for organ in C major, BuxWV 212, "Nun lob mein Seele den Herren" 3:09
Reincken Suite for keyboard in G major 5:48
Reincken Holländische Nachtigahl, for keyboard 3:30
Böhm Prelude, Fugue and Postlude for keyboard in G minor 6:48
Böhm Chaconne in G major 3:14
Böhm Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten, chorale partite for organ 7:36
Bach JS Prelude (Fantasia), for keyboard in A minor, BWV 922 (BC L141) 6:39
Bach JS Toccata for keyboard in D major, BWV 912 (BC L143) 10:02