Opera Omnia III, Organ Works I by Ton Koopman

Ton Koopman

Opera Omnia III, Organ Works I

Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917224221
Catnr: CC 72242
Release date: 07 May 2007

1 CD

Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917224221

Catalogue number
CC 72242

Release date
07 May 2007

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

About the album

This recording contains some of the most mature, harmonically daring and most accomplished of Buxtehude's compositions, including BuxWV 139, 141, 146, 210 and 213. Since Buxtehude in his later organ works was oriented towards the innovations in harmonic temperament introduced by Andreas Werckmeister after 1680, the compositions on this CD were recorded on an organ tuned according to Werckmeister's system. Buxtehude himself was a theatrical personality, the church his theatre. To do his compositions justice we need a ÒmachoÓ playing style and virtuosity, but also emotion, fantasy, contrast, beautiful registers and a unique historical instrument. The splendid historic organ of Altenbruch is ideal for the later works of Buxtehude.

Dieterich Buxtehude (Dietrich, Diderich) was a German-Danish organist and a highly regarded composer of the baroque period. His organ works comprise a central part of the standard organ repertoire and are frequently performed at recitals and church services. He wrote in a wide variety of vocal and instrumental idioms, and his style strongly influenced many composers, including Johann Sebastian Bach. Organist at the Marienkirche in Lübeck for most of his life, Buxtehude is considered today to be the leading German composer in the time between Schütz and Bach.

Coci/Klapmeyer Organ (1498/1728), St. Nicolai Kirche, Altenbruch (D)

Orgelwerken van Buxtehude spelen, is een avontuur volgensTon Koopman
In deel III van de Opera Omnia speelt Ton Koopman de latere orgelwerken van Dieterich (Dietrich, Diderich) Buxtehude. Voor een historisch verantwoorde aanpak van zijn orgelconcerten, koos Koopman de instrumenten met zorg uit. In dit 1e album met orgelwerken speelt hij op het Coci/Klapmeyer orgel (1498/1728) van de St. Nicolai kerk in Altenbruch, Duitsland. Dit prachtige orgel is ideaal voor de latere werken van Buxtehude, die een theatraal karakter had, met de kerk als zijn toneel. Om recht te doen aan zijn composities is een gewaagde speelstijl nodig, met virtuositeit, maar ook met emotie en fantasie. En dat lukt Koopman als geen ander. Door zijn manier van spelen blijf je van begin tot eind geboeid.

Buxtehude was een Deens-Duitse organist en door velen bewonderde componist uit de barokperiode. Hij componeerde vocale en instrumentale muziek. Zijn orgelwerken omvatten een aanzienlijk deel van het standaard orgelrepertoire van onze hedendaagse kerkdiensten. Zijn stijl heeft veel componisten sterk beïnvloed. Hij was één van de grote voorbeelden van Johann Sebastian Bach. Het verhaal gaat dat Bach, toen 20 jaar, in 1705 helemaal naar Lübeck liep - 400 km - om Dieterich Buxtehude daar in de Marienkirche te horen spelen.

Wellicht dat die anekdote Ton Koopman inspireerde tot zijn project Opera Omnia om het gehele bewaard gebleven oeuvre van Buxtehude uit te voeren en op te nemen. Er was hem veel aan gelegen Buxtehude als het brein achter de vocale muziek van Bach te erkennen. Koopman is een van de meest vooraanstaande uitvoerders van oude muziek en voorzittter van het Internationale Buxtehude Gesellschaft.

Die vorliegende Einspielung innerhalb der Buxtehude-Gesamtaufnahme von Ton Koopman, enthält einige der reifsten, harmonisch gewagtesten und kompositorisch kunstvollsten Werke des Lübecker Meisters, darunter BuxWV 139, 141, 146, 210 und 213. Da Buxtehude sich in seinen späteren Orgelwerken an den durch Andreas Werckmeister nach 1680 eingeführten Neuerungen der harmonischen Temperatur orientiert, wurden die Kompositionen dieser Aufnahme an einer Orgel aufgenommen, die in Werckmeister-Stimmung steht. Nur auf diese Weise können die von Buxtehude verlangten Töne wie his, eis, fisis oder Dreiklänge wie Gis-Dur und Cis-Dur sowie verwegene Akkordverbindungen musikalisch sinnvoll dargestellt werden.Die Altenbrucher Orgel erklang zum ersten Mal 1448 und wurde von den besten Meistern ihrer Zeit gebaut und fortentwickelt. Sie wurde in den Jahren 2002 - 04 durch die Werkstatt Järgen und Hendrik Ahrend umfassend restauriert.

Artist(s)

Ton Koopman (harpsichord)

Ton Koopman was born in Zwolle in 1944. After a classical education he studied organ, harpsichord and musicology in Amsterdam and was awarded the Prix d'Excellence for both instruments. From the beginning of his musical studies he was fascinated by authentic instruments and a performance style based on sound scholarship and in 1969, at the age of 25, he created his first Baroque orchestra. In 1979 he founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra followed by the Amsterdam Baroque Choir in 1992.
Koopman's extensive and impressive activities as a soloist, accompanist and conductor have been recorded on a large number of LPs and CDs for labels like Erato, Teldec, Sony, Philips and DG, besides his own record label “Antoine Marchand”, distributed by Challenge Records.
Over the course of a forty-five-year career Ton Koopman has appeared in the most important concert halls and festivals of the five continents. As an organist he has performed on the most prestigious historical instruments of Europe, and as a harpsichord player and conductor of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir he has been a regular guest at venues which include the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Théatre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, the Philharmonie in Munich, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, the Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York and leading concert halls in Vienna, London, Berlin, Brussels, Madrid, Rome, Salzburg, Tokyo and Osaka.
Between 1994 and 2004 Ton Koopman has been engaged in a unique project, conducting and recording all the existing Cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach, a massive undertaking for which he has been awarded the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis "Echo Klassik", the BBC Award 2008, the Prix Hector Berlioz, has been nominated for the Grammy Award (USA) and the Gramophone Award (UK). In 2000 Ton Koopman has received an Honorary Degree from the Utrecht University for his academic work on the Bach Cantatas and Passions and has been awarded both the prestigious Silver Phonograph Prize and the VSCD Classical Music Award. In 2006 he has received the « Bach-Medaille » from the City of Leipzig. Recently Ton Koopman has embarked on another main project: the recording of the whole works by Dietrich Buxtehude, one of the great inspirer of the young J.S. Bach. The recording will be accomplished in 2010 with the release of 30 CDs. Ton Koopman is President of the “International Dieterich Buxtehude Society”. Ton Koopman is very active as a guest conductor and he has collaborated with many prominent orchestras in Europe, USA and Japan. He has been Principal Conductor of the Netherland Radio Chamber Orchestra and has collaborated with the Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam, DSO Berlin, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks in Munich, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Cleveland Orchestra, Santa Cecilia in Rome, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie and Wiener Symphoniker. In the following season he will work on new programmes with the New York Philharmonic, DSO Berlin, Orchestra RAI in Turin, Stockholm Philharmonic, Tonhalle in Zurich. After the great success of his tour at the beginning of 2008, Ton Koopman has been nominated Artist in Residence at the Cleveland Orchestra for three consecutive years starting in 2011. Ton Koopman publishes regularly and for a number of years he has been engaged in editing the complete Händel Organ Concertos for Breitkopf & Härtel. Recently he has published Händel’s Messiah and Buxtehude‘s Das Jüngeste Gericht for Carus. Ton Koopman leads the class of harpsichord at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, is Professor at the University of Leiden and is a Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music in London. Ton Koopman is artistic director of the French Festival “Itinéraire Baroque”.

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Composer(s)

Dieterich Buxtehude

Among the general public, Dieterich Buxtehude is mostly known due to the admiration Johann Sebastian Bach had for his organ and composing skills, for which Bach traveled to the North German city of Lübeck to stay with him for four months, no less. This says quite something about the quality of Buxtehude's performance, but even more so about the influence it had on Bach and all composers after him. Yet, nowadays Buxtehude's music does not need Bach to survive, as a matter of fact it is extraordinarily beautiful just by itself! Buxtehude was originally Danish, but he spent most of him life in Lübeck. His so-called 'Abendmusik', which was a series of evening concerts outside of the liturgy, grew famous. In the works he wrote for these occasions, his enormous fantasy and creative freedom truly shows. As an organ player, Buxtehude was widely famous. If you would listen to his Organ Preludes, you would quickly know why. Buxtehude manages to combine an unprecedented virtuosity with a large variety of styles and techniques. No wonder Bach traveled all that way to see him!

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