Episodes: 1997

A wide-ranging sampler of recent organ music releases on compact disc.

For concert performances on new, historic and unusual instruments.

Performances by and conversations with American organist Susan Carol Woodson, a Memphis native who lives in Belgium.

Both early and late in life, the special power of organ music spoke profoundly through the art of Johannes Brahms [1833-1897]. This centenary tribute includes it all. In his teens, while studying with Robert and Clara Schumann, Brahms thought of becoming a professional organist, but gave up the notion as being fiscally impractical. His four early works show that he well understood the instrument’s potential. His very last compositions, the Chorale-preludes, were dedicated to the memory of his lifelong friend, Clara Schumann. This program provides a sampler overview of available Brahms recordings, many of which individually emcompass Brahms’ complete works.

Four centuries of music for a festival of rebirth and renewal, the triumph of life over death.

Sorrowful and reassuring meditations for a time of stress and uncertainty.

Whether with arrangements, transcriptions, technological enhancements or interpretive diversity, we seem incapable of keeping our hands off.

What a challenge it must have been, growing up in the household of the world’s foremost organist, and knowing Dad expected you to follow in his footsteps. On our next Pipedreams broadcast, we’ll listen to the music of four of Johann Sebastian Bach’s most gifted offspring, each of them rising to the challenge with capability and individuality. From Wilhelm Friedemann’s quirky fugues to Carl Phillip Emmanuel’s Sonatas, the chamber music of Johann Christoph Friedrich, and the concertos of trail-blazer Johann Christian, you’ll be amazed at the craftsmanship so skillfully displayed by this most unique family. Like father like son? Well, almost, as you’ll discover when we compare the various musics of the four most talented Bach children with the example of their father. He set an incredible standard, which each boy worked hard to achieve in music Baroque and Beyond. It’s Sebastian and Sons, this week on Pipedreams.

Women performers and composers make vital contributions to the tradition of the organ.

A winter collection of recent organ recordings in review.

From the subtle magic of a single flute stop to the glorious roar of an entire instrument in song, this week’s program explores just a few of the auditory adventures available to organists. Baroque chorale variations and Psalm fantasies, trumpet tunes, symphonic poems, a virtuoso etude for pedals alone, and a racy romp for two performers at one console are just a few of the possibilities exhibited by our talented friends. Gustav Leonhardt, Virgil Fox and several others each provide unique responses to musical challenges as we continue our never ending search for Sonic Solutions.

It’s a sophisticated gathering of friendly collaborators and the King of Instruments on this week’s Pipedreams program. We’ll feature five centuries of repertoire, for organ and saxophone, organ and trumpet, organ and flute, organ with choir and brass ensemble, in works by Duke Ellington, Claude Debussy, Henk Badings, J.S. Bach, Giovanni Gabrieli…really an all-star cast. We’ll also play around with some oddities, too, a very old piece written for the organ to be played along with the tolling church bell, and a wonderfully zesty concerto by Michel Corrette, proving that Handel wasn’t alone in knowing that pipes and chamber orchestra make a superb package. Organ and Chamber Orchestra are among the many pleasureful pairings of pipes. Get yourself a real earful, with Organ Plus, this week on Pipedreams.

It’s a mini tour of four centuries of musical life in an around Vienna on our next Pipedreams broadcast. We include works by Mozart, of course, also some by his illustrious predecessors Kerll, Muffat, and Wagenseil, and some by those who followed after, too. We’ll visit historic Klosterneuberg Monastery and Saint Michael’s Church plus at least one instrument which Mozart himself played, we’ll offer a tiny tribute to Franz Schubert, and we’ll dance away our cares to a Strauss Waltz. Tune in to enjoy works by Kerll and Muffat, Schubert and Strauss, Radulescu, Wagenseil, and Mozart, as we follow the trail of An Austrian Succession, this week on Pipedreams.

Performances from the inspiring and spacious resonance of the Saint Paul Cathedral in Minnesota.

Three of the century’s most memorable organ-playing talents are celebrated in a limited-edition historic CD reissue collection, a sonorously splendid time-capsule from Philips Classics.

These brilliant denizens of heaven evoke their rolls as travelers’ guide, focus of prayers and wishes, and symbol of nations, while providing us with a star-studded musical celebration.