Gramophone Magazine
July 2019
Editor's Choice

Ricercar Consort, Philippe Pierlot

Buxtehude: Membra Jesu nostri, BuxWV75
Buxtehude: Gott, hilf mir BuxWV 34

In 1680, Dietrich Buxtehude sent his friend Gustav Düben the score of Membra Jesu nostri. In this perfectly balanced work, he addresses the senses directly, immersing us in the sufferings of Christ: we feel the hammer blows, the heart that stops beating…

Through the genius of his music Buxtehude succeeds in moving us, enlightening us and instructing us in the profound meaning of the text.

"What we have here is a wonderfully full yet transparent sound, greatly enhanced by the sheer quality of the voices, and recorded with such luxuriance that the only concessions to the thinner forces are greater flexibility and a sense of a more focused expressive intent [...] Wholly absorbing." - Gramophone Magazine, July 2019.