Two differing opinions of Buxtehude's position in musical history are sometimes voiced. The first that had it not been for J. S. Bach's admiration of the older composer, we would never have heard of Buxtehude at all, and the second that but for the towering genius of Bach, we would today consider Buxtehude as the greatest composer of that period. Whilst both are gross over-simplifications, each holds at least a grain of truth. Certainly interest in Buxtehude's organ music is heightened by the knowledge that Bach held Buxtehude in the highest esteem (the story of the young Bach walking the 200 miles to hear him play is well known) and Buxtehude developed playing techniques and musical forms which Bach was happy to absorb. In the chorale preludes as well as in some individual works (most obviously the Gigue Fugue and D minor Passacaglia both on the Alain discs but not the Saorgin) the influence on Bach's own works is clear. On the other hand, Buxtehude's Praeludiums (often known, rather misleadingly in view of their free nature, as preludes and fugues) develop a form Bach did not use with any great success: Buxtehude had effectively developed this form to its ultimate.
We know of 82 organ works by Buxtehude. Alain has chosen 36 to give a very representative cross-section of his output, whilst Saorgin's selection of 13 includes seven not on the Alain discs. I would doubt whether anyone but the most enthusiastic student of Buxtehude would feel the need to have the complete works on record. Both use organs built by Schnitger, the greatest organ builder of the middle and late baroque, although it is interesting to note that the Zwolle instrument is considerably higher in pitch than that at Groningen.
Both players give satisfying performances. Saorgin's approach is characterized by a very strong rhymthic grasp in much the same way as most organists approach Bach. He allows the music to unfold within rigid tempos which certainly underlines the contrapuntal writing in the fugues and some of the chorale preludes but also tends to emphasize the rather disjointed structures of the Praeludiums. Alain is much freer allowing the music a degree of rubato which certainly suits the improvisatory character of the Praeludiums and allows them to flow much more naturally, but can become a trifle stilted in the chorale preludes. Her obvious wish to avoid long gaps between the various sections of a piece have resulted in a few abrupt edits. However, I must say that I first noticed these listening through headphones during an aeroplane flight and although I had made a note of these, listening through speakers at home, they did not bother me in the slightest. (What was rather more disconcerting listening on the plane was to hear a distant peal of bells at the very start of track 4 of the first disc: I thought they must be coming from outside until I realized that at 35,000 feet, this was somewhat unlikely.) As always, Alain's registrations are impeccable. She has a gift of finding new sounds round each corner which perfectly suit the music. The recording is admirably clear with just the right amount of depth. Saorgin is rather less adventurous in his registrations and I did begin to wish that he had explored the softer solo stops a little more in order to bring some variety of colour to the chorale preludes. There is a very woody character to the lower register of the organ, and the pedal notes seem weak, a fault, I'm quite sure, of the recording rather than the instrument. I think also that a persistent hiss comes not from the organ blower but from tape hiss. In all other respects these 1973 recordings are full-bodied and bright.
My only real disappointment concerns the booklets with both recordings. Saorgin's own essay on Buxtehude's organ works is interesting but no real detail is given on specific works and the organ is not mentioned at all. Alain gives a specification but no further information on the organ, and her own notes on each piece are as good as useless: the four-word description of the Fugue in C (''an infectious gigue rhythm''), for example, says nothing which even the most unmusical listener would not be able to deduce from a single hearing. I wish record companies would not treat listeners so shabbily when it comes to providing detailed information in these booklets.'