Episodes: 1995

Reflecting on what has been and what may be in the realm of the King of Instruments, with audo postcards, letters from listeners, reviews of some new recordings, and enough of a party atmosphere to ring out the Old Year and ring in the New Year, too.

From San Diego to Brooklyn, from churches and theaters, this collection offers warm and friendly greetings of glad tidings and good cheer.

An international collection of arrangements for instruments and voices.

A progression of gladsome Gallic variants on holiday melodies.

There’s a song in the air and it’s about change. The future is just around the corner… but not quite, not yet. On this week’s broadcast, we’ll ponder the problem of the unknown, with music for Advent, including an atmospheric pharaphrase by Hans-Andre Stamm, a collection of Bach chorale-preludes, and an improvised symphonic movement by Marcel Dupré that he recorded with compelling persuasiveness in his 79th year.

…a selective, annotated autumn survey of new releases of organ music on compact disc

Beyond the familiar Trumpet Tune, this week’s broadcast features many pieces by one of England’s foremost masters, one of his contemporaries and some later imitators. He’s justly celebrated, but sometimes for not quite the right reasons. Henry Purcell, the foremost English composer of the late seventeenth century, is our particular fascination on the next Pipedreams broadcast, when we’ll listen to everything he wrote for organ, plus some pieces that he DIDN’T, but to which his name is traditionally and tenaciously attached nonetheless. With period instruments and grand cathedral organs played by Robert Woolley, John Butt, John Scott, Davitt Moroney, and even Virgil Fox, we go on beyond the familiar Trumpet Tunes to hear Voluntaries and Marches, Anthems, Songs, and Dances, looking back through 3 centuries in tribute to the memory of one of Britain’s famous past masters.

…vibrant recital performances and revelatory conversation with an internationally-reverred virtuoso, one of the last living representatives of a grand playing tradition.

…no recording can fully capture the immensity of New York City's famous cathedral space, but that doesn't mean it isn't fun to try.

…performances and comments by husband-and-wife recitalists Cherry Rhodes and Ladd Thomas, organ faculty members of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

…sharing music and tales of peril with Alan Laufman of the Organ Clearing House, who helps aging orphan instruments find new homes.

…a glimpse at the Australian scene through recordings of several famous (and large) instruments, plus new-music performances (and commentary) by Ralph Morton.

…concert and recorded performances by the young British virtuoso and the famous voices of London's historic cathedral.,

…impressions of personalities, picturesque locales, and the mythic muse.

…an introduction to the historic instruments and repertoire of Italy.

…concert performances by the celebrated Frank Speller on the 97-rank 1983 Visser-Rowlands organ in Bates Recital Hall of the University of Texas in Austin.

…conversations with Harald Vogel, who performs repertoire from the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque periods on appropriate instruments (old and new).,

…surveying the post-romantic works of the prolific Sigfrid Karg-Elert, with comments from organologist Felix Aprahamian.