With the Praeludium in C major, BuxWV138, Buxtehude comes near to the two-movement form associated with J S Bach, for instead of writing a sequence of movements in which free writing alternates with passages that are fugal in character, he follows his opening section with just one fugue and concludes with a coda which, although free, is too brief to be thought of as a separate movement. The first section is of the customary brilliant character. The second is based on a subject whose descending three-quaver ‘head’ enables its various entries to be recognized with relative ease; and in the coda, contrary motion again produces harmony of a kind that sounds remarkably modern.
from notes by Relf Clark © 2010
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