Buxtehude: Organ Works / Marie-Claire Alain, organ

Recommendation

The brilliant French organist Marie-Claire Alain passed away earlier this year at the age of 86. Ms. Alain (1926-2013) came from a long line of celebrated organists, including her father, Albert Alain and brothers Jehan and Olivier. A graduate of the Paris Conservatory, she studied with Maurice Duruflé and counted Marcel Dupré as one of her classmates. Among her many accomplishments, she was a prize winner at the Geneva International Music Competition in 1950 and won four first prizes while a student at the Paris Conservatory. She was also the most recorded organist in history with 260 recordings (including three complete cycles of the works of J.S. Bach!) to her credit.

Marie-Claire Alain was known for her meticulous attention to detail, historically informed performance practice, and the careful matching of her instrument to the music at hand. Her repertoire was broad, but she was recognized in particular for her interpretations of music of the Romantic period - Mendelssohn, Franck, Saint-Saëns - and of the Baroque. In addition to Bach, she recorded Vivaldi, Handel and C.P.E. Bach as well as giving us pioneering recordings of the music of Couperin, de Grigny, Pachelbel and of the German Baroque master Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707), who was active a generation before J.S. Bach and is widely considered one of the most significant composers of the middle Baroque.

And this brings us to our recording. This attractively priced two CD set of select Chorals, Preludes, Toccatas and Ciaconas by Buxtehude was originally recorded by Ms. Alain for the Erato label on September 30, 1986. It has recently been reissued on Apex, a division of Warner Classics. I've provided for you to listen to, the complete Praeludium in D major, BuxWV 139 - wonderful music performed by a legend of our own time.

Album Overview

Works:
Praeludium in g minor, BuxWV 149
Choral "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern", BuxWV 223
Praeludium in F sharp minor, BuxWV 146
Choral "In dulci jubilo", BuxWV 197
Praeludium in D major, BuxWV 139
Choral "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland", BuxWV 211
Praeludium in C major, BuxWV 137
Choral "Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt", BuxWV 183
Praeludium in D minor, BuxWV 140
Choral "Komm, Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott", BuxWV 199
Praeludium in E minor, BuxWV 142
Choral "Ach Herr, mich armen Sünder", BuxWV 178
Praeludium in F major, BuxWV 145
Praeludium in A minor, BuxWV 153
Fuga in C major, BuxWV 174
Passacaglia in D minor, BuxWV 161
Ciacona in E minor, BuxWV 160
Ciacona in E minor, BuxWV 159
Canzonetta in G major, BuxWV 171
"Magnificat Primi Toni", BuxWV 203
Choral "Der Tag, der ist so freudenreich", BuxWV 182
Toccata in D minor, BuxWV 155
"Te Deum laudamus", BuxWV 218
Toccata in F major, BuxWV 156
Choral "Nimm von uns, Herr", BuxWV207

Source: Warner Classics

Dietrich Buxtehude

Composer: Dietrich Buxtehude Having been born half a century after Heinrich Schütz , the “father of German musicians”, and a little less than half a century before J. S. Bach , Dietrich Buxtehude — born at Oldesloe, near Lübeck in 1637, died in Lübeck, May 9, 1707 — was placed in the unique position of being a living link between the founder of Protestant Baroque music and its greatest master. www.hoasm.org/VIB/Buxtehude.html

Marie-Claire Alain, organ

Marie-Claire Alain, organ The renowned French organist and pedagogue, Marie-Claire Alain, was the youngest child in a family of distinguished musicians. Her father, Albert Alain (1880-1971), a composer and amateur organ builder, had been a pupil of Alexandre Guilmant, Louis Vierne and Fauré. www.bach-cantatas.com

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