Ton Koopman gives a recital on the wonderful newly-restored Hildebrandt organ in Lengefeld dated 1726, performing works by Buxtehude, JS Bach, Pachelbel, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Gottfried Homilius (thought to have been taught by Bach) and Johann Walther (a distant cousin of Bach’s).

Koopman introduces his programme: “This masterful Zacharias Hildebrandt organ includes seven 17th century stops. For me, that is a good reason to perform not only works by Johann Sebastian Bach and his contemporaries - Bach was a great lover of Hildebrandt organs - but also music from the 17th century.”

About the organ: In 1724, Zacharias Hildebrandt was commissioned to build a new organ. In 2010 a pre-examination by the organ builders Kristian Wegscheider resulted in a sensational find: unusually well-preserved 17th century pipes which probably originated from the pre-cursing instrument built by Christoph Donat in 1661/62. This set of pipes, probably the oldest surviving in Saxony, was used by Zacharias Hildebrandt for his new organ. Between 2010 and 2014 they were jointly restored by the organ building firms of Hermann Eule, Bautzen, and Kristian Wegscheider, Dresden.

The celebrated Dutch organist, harpsichordist and conductor Ton Koopman became an early leading figure in the “authentic performance” movement and is one of today’s most important exponents of Baroque music, both as a performer and scholar. At the age of 25, he created his first baroque orchestra; in 1979 he founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, followed in 1992 by the Amsterdam Baroque Choir, the combined forces soon gaining worldwide fame as one of the best ensembles on period instruments.

Among Koopman’s most ambitious projects has been the recording of the complete Bach cantatas, a massive undertaking which garnered numerous awards. In addition, he has long been an advocate of the music of Bach’s predecessor Dieterich Buxtehude; in 2005 he embarked on the recording of the Buxtehude-Opera Omnia, the last of its 30 CDs being released in 2014. Both editions are available on Challenge Classics.