Old Masters of the Organ, Book 4: Organ, Collections, Book

This volume delivers ten substantial works that span the seventeenth-century organ world, from Buxtehude's intricate chorale preludes to Frescobaldi's dramatic canzonas and Froberger's virtuosic toccatas. Straube's editions make these pieces genuinely playable without sacrificing their stylistic character, offering organists repertoire that demands real musicianship alongside technical development. The collection sits at that ideal middle ground where a student can learn serious counterpoint and keyboard technique from composers who invented both.

These works pulse with the intellectual vitality of the seventeenth century: precise counterpoint unfolds over repeating bass patterns, sudden shifts in texture surprise and delight, and virtuosic passage work demands both fingers and feet working in concert. There is ceremony in the chorale preludes, brilliance in the toccatas, and architectural integrity in every ricercare. The collection feels like stepping into a thriving musical culture where keyboard music was still being invented.

Organists at the intermediate-to-advanced level who want to build fluency with Baroque keyboard idioms and expand beyond the familiar Bach canon. This collection suits church musicians preparing liturgical repertoire as well as recital organists developing a historically informed performance practice. Teachers seeking substantial yet approachable repertoire for advanced students will find immediate classroom applications.

• Approach the Buxtehude chorale preludes as intimate dialogues between melody and accompaniment; resist the urge to make every voice equally prominent. The chorale statement should sing above the figuration.
• The tientos and ricercares benefit from clear voice independence and measured pacing. Rushing obscures the contrapuntal logic that makes these pieces memorable.
• Use the pedal passages (especially Kerll's Toccata per li Pedali) as opportunities to establish independence between hands and feet; practice hands alone first, then integrate pedal with each hand separately before combining.
• Experiment with registration choices across different movements to distinguish character. A toccata gains urgency with mixture stops; a ricercare may sing more clearly with softer foundations.

Pair individual movements from this collection with Bach or Buxtehude in a recital program that traces the development of Baroque keyboard music. The chorale preludes work especially well in church services during Advent or Reformation observances. Use selections as teaching repertoire across an entire season, introducing students to different genres and composers in manageable, rewarding doses.

• Reading seventeenth-century notation and performance practice conventions
• Voice independence and polyphonic clarity in multi-voice writing
• Coordinating hands and pedals in contrasting textures
• Registration choices that illuminate harmonic and contrapuntal structure
• Sustaining longer formal structures without baroque ornamentation (tientos, ricercares, canzonas)