As one completely devoted to the organ works of Bach (and of others), I highly recommend this recording. I have loved Buxtehude's organ works for many years, and had certain recordings on LP (old Mercury Living Presence of Alf Linder and the LP of Walcha's "Orfelmeister vor Bach,") which are my favorites. Neither, however, is available on CD. While Walter Kraft is not Helmut Walcha or Alf Linder (an objective observation, not a qualitative one), he is not an average, or even a good organist. He is a sup..
Not always have we got a clear notion as to the extent in which Buxtehude influenced the work of J.S. Bach. Neither is a Buxtehude's full collection available in just one album at such an accesible price. This is an impeccable remasterisation of a celebrated performance of Walter Kraft on the Lubeck Cathedral organ: an instrument very similar to those Buxtehude wrote for.
This is by far (with the exception of the set performed by Harald Vogel) the best recording of Buxtehude's complete output for Organ. With two exceptions (not included in this recording are the Praeludium C-Dur BuxWV 138 and the Kanzonette a-Moll BuxWV 225), Walter Kraft here records the entire opus for Organ of his illustrious predecessor at the post of Organist and the Marienkirche zu Luebeck--the Danish/German Organist Dietrich Buxtehude.
