Despite the prominence of Dietrich Buxtehude as both composer and organist, it's surprising that almost none of his music was published during his lifetime. In fact, the first set of published works (the Op. 1 Sonatas heard here) were published at his own expense. The Op. 1 Sonatas (and indeed, the Op. 2 Sonatas, also for the same instrumentation) consist of a set of seven sonatas for violin, viola da gamba, and harpsichord. The number seven was treated almost superstitiously by Buxtehude and others of his time; there are seven sonatas, many of which have seven distinct sections. The complexity and virtuosity of this set reveal the access that Buxtehude would have had to elite performers. He would likely have been satisfied by the performance given on this album by the ensemble
L'Estravagante. Although little information is given about the performers in the otherwise informative liner notes, the three musicians function together as a refined, polished whole. Every aspect of the performance appears tightly unified, from articulation and ornamentation to phrasing and dynamics. The enhanced fidelity offered on the SACD layer of the disc allows listeners to truly immerse themselves in the detail and subtlety offered by
L'Estravagante.