As part of Radio 3's Northern Lights season, Fiona Talkington looks at some of the music found in the Düben Collection, currently held at Uppsala University. It was originally collected by the Swedish composer Gustaf Düben, and includes many of the only surviving copies of manuscripts by Buxtehude.
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At first glance, this might look like a rather dry, academic EMS - but much of the music is well worth a listen. The first Buxtehude item is sublime. I hadn't heard the Rebel overture before, either. -
I very much enjoyed the programme. There is no mention of it on the schedule page but Fiona Talkington had two guests who talked about the background of the collection. I was very pleased to hear a comment made by one of the guests. FT asked him what it was that attracted him to the music in the collection, The guest answered, ‘unlike music by later composers like Bach and .Handel, music in the 17th century is (more) unpredictable and playful’ (or to that effect, I thought).
Franz Tunder, Giovannni Rovetta, John Theile, and Ignatio von Gnessel may not be anybody’s desert island composers but their music is worth hearing all the same.Comment
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