1995 Rieger-Kloss organ at the Unicov Concert Hall, Czech Republic

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.

Some of the most memorable presents are ones we’ve made ourselves, and on the next Pipedreams, you’ll listen to six stupendously talented organists who need only a theme to spark their imaginations, and they make it up from there. Delight in the inspired fantasies of Merrill Davis, playing for a concert audience in Prague; Earl Miller, rhapsodizing at a parish church in Danville, Virginia; Gerre Hancock in New York City; Hector Olivera in Los Angeles; and the inimitable Pierre Cochereau at the mighty pipe organ of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. All set off into uncharted waters and all will bring the ship safely back home filled with seasonal cheer. It’s the miraculous product of Holiday Dreams, improvisations for organ, this week on Pipedreams.

In celebration of the 250th birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart [born 1/27/1756], we explore some of the music he wrote for the organ, and some that he didn’t.

Exploring the actualities and implications of Mozart’s life-long love of the ‘King of Instruments’, and other’s love of Wolfgang Amadeus.