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Track(s) taken from CDA67809

Praeludium in G minor, BuxWV149

composer

Christopher Herrick (organ)
Recording details: January 2009
Nidaros Cathedral, Trondheim, Norway
Produced by Paul Spicer
Engineered by Simon Eadon & Sean Lewis
Release date: January 2010
Total duration: 7 minutes 35 seconds

Cover artwork: Church interior, with people at prayer in the foreground and a small procession in the main aisle. Bartolomeus van Bassen (c1590-1652)
Johnny van Haeften Gallery, London / Bridgeman Images
 

Reviews

‘The magnificent 1741 Wagner organ in Trondheim's Nidaros Cathedral. In possession of some pugnacious reeds and a thrilling 'pleno', it's an ideal choice for a disc which includes some big-boned praeludia as well as Buxtehude's most extended organ work: the imposing Fantasia on the Te Deum whose architectural acuity Herrick unfolds with magisterial authority … Herrick's flair for apposite registration illuminates at every turn … sonorously splendiferous’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘The ambitions Te Deum and the grand Praeludium in C major confirm Buxtehude's inspiring originality. No wonder the young Bach once walked 200 miles to hear him play’ (The Observer)
The Praeludium in G minor, BuxWV149, is a typical example of the genre, flamboyant, improvisatory passages alternating with ones that are fugal and therefore strict in character. It opens with brilliant writing for the manuals, underpinned from the seventh bar by the pedals’ obsessive seven-note phrase. Here, as so often in Buxtehude’s organ works, one can picture an organist seated at a console completely free of music and giving his imagination full rein. This toccata-like opening is followed by a four-voice fugue, a brisk, largely manuals-only Allegro, and a further fugue, marked Largo, which runs into a free coda.

from notes by Relf Clark © 2010

Le Praeludium en sol mineur, BuxWV149, est typique, de flamboyants passages à l’improvisade alternant avec des épisodes fugués, donc stricts de caractère. Il s’ouvre sur une écriture brillante adressée aux manuels, soutenus, à partir de la septième mesure, par l’obsessionnelle phrase de sept notes du pédalier. Ici, comme si souvent dans l’orgue de Buxtehude, on voit bien un organiste assis à la console, totalement affranchi de la musique et lâchant la bride à son imagination. À cette ouverture à la toccata succèdent deux fugues, l’une à quatre voix (un Allegro vif, essentiellement manualiter), l’autre marquée Largo, qui débouche sur une coda libre.

extrait des notes rédigées par Relf Clark © 2010
Français: Hypérion

Das Praeludium in g-Moll, BuxWV149, ist ein typisches Beispiel für das Genre; extravagante improvisatorische Passagen wechseln mit fugalen von strengem Charakter ab. Es beginnt mit brillantem Satz für die Manuale, die ab dem siebten Takt von der obszessiven siebennotigen Phrase des Pedals untermauert wird. Wie so oft in Buxtehudes Orgelwerken kann man sich auch hier einen Organisten vorstellen, der ganz ohne Noten an der Konsole sitzt und seiner Phantasie völlig freien Lauf lässt. Diesem toccatenhaften Anfang folgt eine vierstimmige Fuge, ein rasches, weitgehend auf den Manualen allein gespieltes Allegro und eine weitere Fuge, die Largo überschrieben ist und sich in eine freie Coda auflöst.

aus dem Begleittext von Relf Clark © 2010
Deutsch: Renate Wendel

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