1798 Holzhay organ at Neresheim Abbey, Germany

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.

We explore a world of opportunity on our next Pipedreams program. This is a kind of golden age, as never before has there been quite so much music available on compact disc. We’ll sample from among the most recent issues, including this delicious movement for violin, cello and organ by Rheinberger. We’ll also have the work of little-know Viennese composer Robert Fuchs, played at Saint Stefan’s Cathedral, Vienna, by Peter Planyavsky some Brahms Variations by Marcel Dupré, in a first recording, the latest from the Wanamaker Organ in Philadelphia, just a tantalizing taste, and pieces by Bach and his favorite pupil, Krebs, recorded very stylishly on historic instruments in Germany. From simple Bach for only two parts well, not SO simple to the sound of the largest functional musical instrument on the planet, we select from among the best new compact discs and provide you with a consumer’s alert. A review of what’s new, we’re Going on Record, this week on Pipedreams.

On this week’s show, we’ll assess the not inconsiderable accomplishments of three talented offspring who made their own way in the world of music. Wilhelm Friedemann was considered Germany’s foremost organist. Johann Christian converted to Catholicism, studied in Italy, and ended up as the most celebrated import, after Handel, on the London scene. And Carl Philip Emmanuel, after a period of royal servitude, became music director for the city of Hamburg, a job his father lusted after but never himself achieved. Boys will be boys, but when your father is Johann Sebastian Bach there are certain standards to be met, and a degree of individual independence to be sought. Hear the the works of three talented offspring the Sons of ‘B’ music by The Bach Boys, this week on PIPEDREAMS.

Michael Barone shares his field recordings of some exceptional historic instruments in spectacular Bavarian Baroque churches, and invites you to join his tour there in May 2006.

Some lively aural reminders of the fun we had during our recent visit to southern Germany and beyond.

…trace the evolution of this powerful compositional format from its beginnings as a suggestive street ‘dance’.

…select shorts of some of the remarkable instruments we heard during a 2006 tour in southern Germany.

…in anticipation of the Christmas festival, this collection of music with an international flavor.

…in their different ways, Bach’s eldest sons Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philip Emmanuel, made interesting contributions to the repertoire.

…a tri–centenary salute to Bach's favorite and most prolific student, Johann Ludwig Krebs (1713–1780)