After decades of neglect by record companies, the music of Dieterich Buxtehude now seems almost in danger of swamping the catalogues. Excellent series from Ton Koopman (Challenge Classics), Bine Bryndorf (Dacapo) and Wolfgang Rübsam (Naxos) mix authority with great individuality, while Christopher Herrick has now reached the fifth disc in his series and shows no sign of Buxtehude fatigue, even if he is going over ground he has already trodden with Hyperion; he recorded the Praeludium in C (BuxWV137) on one of his ‘Organ Fireworks’ discs.

Outstanding competition and the revisiting of material must in no way prove a barrier to anyone with even a vague interest in Buxtehude’s organ music, for this is a simply splendid disc. The organ, a new (2010) three-manual instrument by the French builder Bernard Aubertin, is a delight to the ears, its manifest charms precisely mapped out in detailed registrations provided in the excellent booklet (revealing that the delicious solo for Es spricht der Unweisen Mund wohl is a clever combination of Voix Humaine, Traversière and Nazard embraced by a loving Tremulant).

Above all, of course, is Herrick’s immensely enjoyable playing. He enchants in the characterful miniatures – the Canzonetta calls to mind the gambolling of new-born lambs, while an impish G major Fugue bubbles like a clear mountain stream – and the gentle Chorale Preludes, such as Durch Adams Fall, speak with endearing intimacy. Big Praeludiae are delivered with grace and style, majestic rather than aggressive. All in all a delight to the ears which brings a smile to the face and a lift to the soul.