Advent and Christmas (76): Toccata F major (BuxWV 157)

Some time ago I recorded a first version of Buxtehudes Toccata. For this Christmas season I did a second rendition, which offers a powerful and possibly more eloquent version.

The three-part Toccata in F major is structurally comparable to works by Franz Tunder, who was Buxtehude's father-in-law and predecessor as organist at the Marienkirche in Lübeck.
The Toccata starts with virtuoso drive and chord repetitions that become condensed
in a solemn section. The third section follows a dance fugue, which relates motivically to the preceding ones, it sounds in places like fanfares. The last episode consists of sixteenth-note figuration and a monumental cadence.

This 'fire work' of energy and splendor of sound with its initial verve, the cheerful middle fugue and his majestic, pompous signal motifs let me imagine that this unique organ work possibly could announce an important event - for example the birth of Christ? That's why I post it now.

Recorded on the very beautiful OAM-sample of Poblet (Metzler-organ).