Considering Dietrich Bustehude's sacred music as a spring in the foothills of Mount Bach is inevitable given Bach's peerless stature: inadvertently, an Olympian reputation invites avalanches to smother the achievements of distinguished forebears. Stes a dramatic claim is not too wide of the mark if one peruses the Duben Collection in Uppsala, Sweden, a resource containing reams of 17"-century North German masterpieces, including a range of fine prove-en as by Entich dered forgot ten ce of Bachs ase Batey his death in 1707 brought eulogies and epithets such as world-renowned, incomparable musician and composer' Johann Caspar Ulich).

To acknowledge Buxtehude as the outstanding German composer between Schutz and Bach, one need look no further than his cycle of seven cantatas, Membra Jesu Nostri (BuxWV75). This work, dating from 1680, is a sui generis example in the composer's cantata oeuvre since all his other extended pieces combining concerto and aria elements are set in the German vernacular.

'Membra Jesu nostri patientis sanctissima' (Most Holy Members of our Suffering Jesus) is a passion-meditation, contemplating seven different parts of Jesus Christ's body on the cross: feet, knees, hands, side, breast, heart and head. The majority of the Latin text is drawn from a popular medieval poem, 'Salve mundi salutare' which Buxtehude may have compiled himself through an edition entitled Domini Bernhardi Oratio rhythmica published in Hamburg in 1633. Despite significant internal contrast, Buxtehude's basic scheme is built on framing vocal concertos, setting free prose from the Vulgate (the Latin Bible), with several strophic arias for a single solo voice, occasionally joined by one or two others. Each work opens with an instrumental sonata, setting the scene with Buxtehude's customary emotional penetration and clarity. The idiosyncratic power of this work is partly created by the consistent attention given to intensify the mystical poetry, launched by the more decorative biblical content.

Sopranos - Ruby Skilbeck, Hannah Dienes-Williams, Katherine Gregory, Caroline Blair

Altos - Helena Paish, Ruby Bak

Tenors - Jospeh Hancock, Louis Watkins

Basses - Allyn Wu, Harry Brookes-Owen

Violins - Sophia Mücke, Verena Eggensberger

Violone - Jude Chandler | Cello - Santiago Lowe

Organ - Luke Mitchell | Harpsichord - Xiaowen Shang | Theorbo - Louis Moisan

Viol Consort - Lucine Musaelian, Tess Roberts, Theodore Nisbett, Nathaniel Giorgetti