Praeludium in D by Buxtehude

I'm playing this piece on organ now so I thought it would be good to listen to it and write stuff down to help me practice. The opening is very brilliant using many principle stops and a booming reed in the pedal. It begins on the fourth sixteenth note of beat one. This makes a very unusual introduction. The beginning sounds like the organist is trying out sounds on the the organ, then enjoys them and decides to continue playing. After the great and swell spend some time teasing each other the feet enter to show off. All three voices seem to be talking to eachother as though the two manuals started and then the feet entered and were like, "Hey. What's up guys? Wanna talk about your day?" Then the prelude section closes and goes into a fugue. Yah for fugues--not! It sounds very impressive though. At this point each voice has become very annoyed and is fighting to be heard. Each theme starts with a static eighth note pattern. Eventually there are 4 themes playing. Thank goodness people don't have 4 legs! The end of this section ritards into a BEAUTIFUL minor passage where all the voices finally seem to be working to talk and listen to each other. Then there is an adagio section with a very static pedal pattern with moving chords on top with strings and flutes. Right when you're completely calm and ready to sleep the "other" organ returns and scares you to death with very forte tutti organ. The conclusion is the most exciting. It sounds like an improve of huge chords, arpeggios, long scalar passages, and dual foot action. It's very exhilarating to the last moment!