Buxtehude Praeludium in D (BuxWV 139)

Dietrich Buxtehude's Praeludium in D major opens with a flourish that has somewhat of an improvisatory feel. It then moves into a four-voice fugue with a theme that features a repeated note. From there, it moves into a section in which Buxtehude shows off his skill with complex harmonies, followed by a lively, toccata-like part that gets interrupted by another sustained section before the piece wraps up. Unlike a typical prelude and fugue, this piece doesn’t have a clear split into two big movements. Instead, it mixes shorter sections of strict fugal writing with more free, improvisational moments, some of which are simple and lively, while others are more stately and harmonically rich. I use the multi-sectional nature of the piece to play around with different registrations while providing added contrast by alternating between the great and positive keyboard. I'm playing the piece on the Matthijs van Deventer organ sample set using Hauptwerk virtual organ software. The original organ resides in Nijkerk and is a lovely example of Dutch baroque organ building.