The Praeambulum in A minor, BuxWV158, begins with an improvisatory paragraph in which the music unfolds over long-held pedal notes. Based on a steady, four-crotchet subject, the first fugue becomes increasingly animated. It comes to rest with a Phrygian cadence (at about 3'02''), and without interpolating any free material Buxtehude immediately embarks on a short second fugue, its subject comprising two groups of six quavers. The brief coda recalls the work’s opening bars.
from notes by Relf Clark © 2011
