Dating from 1680, Dietrich Buxtehude's Membra Jesu Nostri is a cycle of seven cantatas that successively contemplate different parts of the crucified Christ's body, starting with his pierced feet and ending with his face, bloodstained from the crown of thorns. It's a curiously beautiful work, and somewhat less morbid than you might imagine.

Each corporal allusion in the text becomes the starting point for a meditation on a different aspect of Christian revelation, while the music glides from harmonic suspensions suggestive of great suffering to passages of timeless simplicity. Parts of it, notably the sections on Christ's knees and heart, also tip towards a Song-of-Songs-ish sensuality. The performances, with Conrad Junghänel conducting his Cantus Cölln, are flawless.