Buxtehude: Trio Sonatas Op.1 & 2

Buxtehude: Trio Sonatas Op.1 & 2
Composer Dietrich Buxtehude
Artist Valerio Losito violin
Bettina Hoffmann viola da gamba
Simone Stella harpsichord
Format 2 CD
Cat. number 96288
EAN code 5028421962887
Release August 2025

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About this release

The key to Buxtehude’s trio sonatas, both for performers and for listeners, is an awareness of the stylus fantasticus which German composers of the late 17th and early 18th centuries developed in response to the new freely inventive style of Italian composers such as Claudio Merulo and Girolamo Frescobaldi. ‘It is the most free and unrestrained method of composing,’ wrote one contemporary theorist. ‘It is bound to nothing, neither to any words nor to a melodic subject, instituted to display genius and to teach the hidden design of harmony and the ingenious composition of harmonic phrases and fugues.’

The seven sonatas in each of these collections, published in Hamburg in 1696, offer a continuous succession of short movements, up to eight per sonata, which alternate between slow and fast tempi, and improvisatory and contrapuntal textures, dominated by a dazzling array of ostinato variations which embed the melodies in the listener’s consciousness. We encounter witty solos, dialogues and conversations, sublime suspensions, jaunty syncopations and occasional excursions into strange and modal harmony. The expressive range is accordingly wide, venturing in Op.1 No.6 into a D minor realm of darkness and desperation.

The musicians on this new recording of Buxtehude’s trio sonatas are experienced and skilful practitioners of Baroque style, with an impressive catalogue of albums on Brilliant Classics to their credit. Valerio Losito has recorded the violin sonatas of Scarlatti, Telemann and Tessarini, among others, while Simone Stella has made complete surveys of the organ and harpsichord output by Froberger and Pachelbel – ‘performed with natural flair, especially with respect to clarifying counterpoint’ (Gramophone).

Simone Stella introduces these fascinating works, milestones in the history of German-Baroque chamber music, with an extensive booklet essay. This is ‘music full of lyrically delicate, sorrowful, and dramatic emotions,’ he says, ‘as well as melodious, harmonically gratifying, and full of vitality, a world of sound that consecrates him as a unique genius in the Pantheon of Music.’

- Dietrich Buxtehude (c. 1637–1707) was a prominent German-Danish composer and organist of the Baroque period, renowned for his influence on later composers such as J.S. Bach and Handel. Best known for his sacred vocal music and virtuosic organ works, Buxtehude also wrote a substantial body of chamber music.
- Published in 1694 and 1696 respectively, Buxtehude’s Trio Sonatas comprise two sets of seven sonatas each. On this recording they are played with one violin, viola da gamba and harpsichord. These works represent a blend of German counterpoint and Italianate style. The sonatas are notable for their variety of forms, including fugal sections, dance movements, and expressive slow passages, the inventive use of harmony and rhythmic vitality reflecting the lively spirit of the early Baroque. The Op.1 and 2 sonatas are among the earliest significant instrumental works in Northern Germany, and they contributed to the development of the sonata genre.
- Played by three foremost representatives of the Italian Historically Informed Performance Practice: Valerio Losito (violin), Bettina Hoffmann (viola da gamba) and Simone Stella (harpsichord). Valerio Losito successfully recorded for Brilliant Classics works by Tessarini, Veracini, Dal Barba, Telemann and Alessandro Scarlatti.

Track list

Disk 1

  1. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 1 No. 1 in F Major, BuxWV 252: I. Vivace – Lento
  2. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 1 No. 1 in F Major, BuxWV 252: II. Allegro – Adagio
  3. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 1 No. 1 in F Major, BuxWV 252: III. Andante
  4. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 1 No. 1 in F Major, BuxWV 252: IV. Grave – Presto
  5. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 1 No. 2 in G Major, BuxWV 253: I. Lento – Vivace
  6. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 1 No. 2 in G Major, BuxWV 253: II. Adagio – Allegro
  7. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 1 No. 2 in G Major, BuxWV 253: III. Largo – Arioso
  8. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 1 No. 3 in A Minor, BuxWV 254: I. Adagio
  9. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 1 No. 3 in A Minor, BuxWV 254: II. Allegro
  10. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 1 No. 3 in A Minor, BuxWV 254: III. Lento – Vivace
  11. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 1 No. 3 in A Minor, BuxWV 254: IV. Largo – Presto – Adagio
  12. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 1 No. 4 in B-Flat Major, BuxWV 255: I. Vivace – Allegro
  13. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 1 No. 4 in B-Flat Major, BuxWV 255: II. Lento – Allegro
  14. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 1 No. 5 in C Major, BuxWV 256: I. Vivace
  15. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 1 No. 5 in C Major, BuxWV 256: II. Violino solo – Allegro
  16. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 1 No. 5 in C Major, BuxWV 256: III. Largo – Allegro
  17. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 1 No. 5 in C Major, BuxWV 256: IV. Adagio – Allegro
  18. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 1 No. 6 in D Minor, BuxWV 257: I. Grave – Allegro
  19. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 1 No. 6 in D Minor, BuxWV 257: II. Con discretione – Adagio (con discretione) – Adagio
  20. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 1 No. 6 in D Minor, BuxWV 257: III. Vivace – (con discretione) Adagio
  21. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 1 No. 6 in D Minor, BuxWV 257: IV. Poco presto – Poco Adagio – Presto – Lento
  22. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 1 No. 7 in E Minor, BuxWV 258: I. Allegro – Largo
  23. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 1 No. 7 in E Minor, BuxWV 258: II. Presto – Vivace – Adagio
  24. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 1 No. 7 in E Minor, BuxWV 258: III. Poco Presto – Lento – Prestissimo

Disk 2

  1. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 2 No. 1 in B-Flat Major, BuxWV 259: I. Allegro
  2. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 2 No. 1 in B-Flat Major, BuxWV 259: II. Adagio – Allegro
  3. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 2 No. 1 in B-Flat Major, BuxWV 259: III. Grave
  4. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 2 No. 1 in B-Flat Major, BuxWV 259: IV. Vivace – Lento
  5. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 2 No. 1 in B-Flat Major, BuxWV 259: V. Poco adagio – Presto
  6. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 2 No. 2 in D Major, BuxWV 260: I. Adagio – Allegro – Largo
  7. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 2 No. 2 in D Major, BuxWV 260: II. Arietta, Parte I-X
  8. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 2 No. 2 in D Major, BuxWV 260: III. Largo – Vivace
  9. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 2 No. 3 in G Minor, BuxWV 261: I. Vivace – Lento
  10. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 2 No. 3 in G Minor, BuxWV 261: II. Allegro – Lento
  11. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 2 No. 3 in G Minor, BuxWV 261: III. Andante
  12. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 2 No. 3 in G Minor, BuxWV 261: IV. Grave – Gigue
  13. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 2 No. 4 in C Minor, BuxWV 262: I. Poco adagio
  14. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 2 No. 4 in C Minor, BuxWV 262: II. Allegro – Lento
  15. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 2 No. 4 in C Minor, BuxWV 262: IV. 3/4 – Vivace
  16. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 2 No. 5 in A Major, BuxWV 263: I. Allegro
  17. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 2 No. 5 in A Major, BuxWV 263: II. Violino solo – Concitato
  18. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 2 No. 5 in A Major, BuxWV 263: III. Adagio
  19. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 2 No. 5 in A Major, BuxWV 263: IV. Allegro – Adagio
  20. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 2 No. 5 in A Major, BuxWV 263: V. 6/4 – Poco presto
  21. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 2 No. 6 in E Major, BuxWV 264: I. Grave – Vivace
  22. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 2 No. 6 in E Major, BuxWV 264: II. Adagio – Poco presto – Lento
  23. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 2 No. 6 in E Major, BuxWV 264: III. Allegro
  24. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 2 No. 7 in F Major, BuxWV 265: I. Adagio – 4/4
  25. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 2 No. 7 in F Major, BuxWV 265: II. Lento – Vivace
  26. Dietrich Buxtehude: Trio Sonata Op. 2 No. 7 in F Major, BuxWV 265: III. Largo – Allegro