Emma Kirkby, internationally renowned for her interpretations of early music, joins Canadian soprano Suzie LeBlanc, Peter Harvey, Clare Salaman, and The Purcell Quartet in this disc of sacred music by Buxtehude. This is the only available reecording of many of the works on this disc. Recorded in: St Jude on the Hill, Hampstead, London 14-16 February 2002 Producer(s) Rachel Smith Sound Engineer(s) Jonathan Cooper Michael Common

As the composer that Johann Sebastian Bach at the age of twenty walked more than 400 kilometres in order to meet, Dietrich Buxtehude holds a place of honour in the history of music. Luckily, an important portion of his music, mainly vocal works and organ pieces, has also survived. Having spent his childhood and early years in Helsingborg and Elsinore, on either side of the strait that divides Denmark and Sweden, Buxtehude was recruited as organist by the congregation of the great Marienkirche in the wealthy Hanseatic city of Lübeck. On the basis of this, as well as the challenges posed by his organ compositions, it is safe to assume that he was a virtuoso on his instrument. He would also have been a connoisseur of fine organs - the finest of which at the time were to be found in Northern Germany. Two such magnificent instruments still exist in the small towns of Altenbruch and Lüdingworth, some 130 kilometres west of Lübeck, and on them Masaaki Suzuki here performs a varied selection of Buxtehude's organ works. This ranges from brief chorale preludes to the magnificent Te Deum laudamus and the celebrated Ciaccona in E minor. Although he is most widely known for his on-going, highly praised series of Bach's cantatas on BIS, Masaaki Suzuki in fact began his professional career as a church organist at the age of twelve, later studying the instrument both in Tokyo and in Amsterdam. For BIS he has previously recorded Bach's Organ Mass ('an organist of distinguished musicianship and superior technique' wrote the American Record Guide) and organ works by Sweelinck, a disc which upon its release was recommended by Gramophone and described in International Record Review as containing 'performances which are compelling in their stylistic integrity and uncompromising musicianship.'

“Sing a new song unto the Lord!” What motto could be more fitting for this debut by the BachWerkVokal? Framed by Bach’s festive New Year’s Day Cantata and his double-choral motet on Psalm 98, this recording by the instrumentally and vocally multifaceted Salzburg ensemble presents works by Buxtehude, Telemann, and Handel – and as a special treat two previously undiscovered solutions to Mozart’s Puzzle Canon on the same text. Along with this premiere, two other recording firsts enrich this meticulously produced Super Audio album. Telemann’s cantata has never been released in recorded form- which is not at all understandable in view of his interpretation rendering the text with absolutely onomatopoetic Baroque splendor. Now the ocean surges, now the streams of water jubilate, and the harps, trumpets, and drums mentioned in the psalm also make themselves heard. Gordon Safari, the ensemble’s founder, has completed the Cantata BWV 190, a work transmitted in fragmentary form. This versatile conductor is now presenting this festive work for the first time. Truly a “new song!” As we gather from Buxtehude’s Latin psalm setting, both Handel and Bach learned from him. His Novum!-The Lord! seems to have been tailor-made for the BachWerkVokal. The remarkable room impression of this three-dimensional recording shines with Baroque splendor even in the secular setting of the home- and lends Bach’s double-choral motets the radiance of a live performance.