The Ciaccona in C minor, BuxWV159 is one of three ostinato works in this complete survey of Buxtehude’s organ music, the others being the Ciaccona in E minor and the Passacaglia in D minor. Unfolding over a noble four-bar ground, this gravely beautiful, dance-like music occasionally calls to mind similar passages towards the beginning of Bach’s Passacaglia in C minor, BWV582. The composer achieves variety by causing the pedals to drop out from time to time and by ingeniously enveloping the ground in elaborate passagework for the manuals.
from notes by Relf Clark © 2008
