1898 Willis; 1971 Hill, Norman & Beard; 1999 Nicholson and Co. organ at the Cathedral, Gloucester, England, UK

There’s something for everyone on our next Pipedreams broadcast. We’ll feature everything from charming Renaissance dances played on a restored instrument from the early 1500s to an improvised waltz that’s only a few months old. Our sampler of current CDs includes the sound of the largest church organ in New England and works by Bach played on an instrument from his time and territory. We’ll light up the dawn with a poem perfectly fitted to a venerable Skinner organ in one of Detroit’s once-fine neighborhoods, reminisce about the early days of Pipedreams broadcasts with a piece we premiered here, and savor the splendor of a Vierne Symphonic Finale played in grand manner on a near-perfect organ in Toulouse. From Dupré to Dirksen, and Willan to Walton, it’s a variety sampler of the best new organ compact discs, with profound preludes, delicious dances, and scintillating sorties. To keep up with the recent and the remarkable, we’re Going On Record with new releases in review, this week on Pipedreams.

Believe it or not, there’s a Russian repertoire for pipe organ, and we’ll be exploring it on our next Pipedreams broadcast. Even though the Orthodox Church in Russia specifies choral music only, and the former Soviet regime did little to encourage the instrument because of its close ties to other religious traditions, organs have been built and maintained in Russia for several centuries, and composers such as Glinka and Glazunov and even Shostakovich have written for them. You’ll hear solos from the 19th and 20th centuries, music inspired by a dream, transcribed from an opera, and an extraordinary Sonata for Organ and Cello by Tatiana Sergeieva, certain to make your ears perk up. Unorthodox? Absolutely. Who knows anything about an organ tradition in Russia, but there is one, and we get to its heart with dance tunes sonatas, even music heard in a dream. Prepare for a delightful surprise From Russia With Love, this week on Pipedreams.

Felix Mendelssohn wrote often and well for the king of instruments, but his Hebrides Overture is not usually numbered among his standard organ essays. On our next Pipedreams program, though all of the music sounds simply fantastic, none of it was created for the medium of wind-blown pipes. If you’ve enjoyed the occasional appearance of the pipe organ in his Second and Eighth Symphonies, how about Mahler’s Symphony Number 5 arranged as an organ solo? Good things are where you find them, and Frederick Hohman, Matt Curlee, Alexander Frey, David Briggs, and other friends tackle the matter of orchestral transcriptions with overtures for concert hall and opera house. Not your usual organ recital. For an extraordinary experience, it’s Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Mahler, this week on Pipedreams.

It’s not every day that Bach’s Royal Instrument gets up and jigs, but in this week’s show the rambunctious rhythms will make very difficult for you to sit still. Whether from an Italian Renaissance chapel or a Baptist Church in Ohio, our music includes everything from Pavans to Rumbas. The music is so enlivening that two of the instruments actually play themselves. Don’t be a wallflower. Groove to Cuban rhythms, an English Bolero, a Viennese Rumba and many other exciting and exotic examples of why your ideas about the pipe organ may need updating. Put on your dancing shoes and join us on the floor!

A treat for the whole family, this week’s broadcast features organ arrangements of famous classical works and original compositions used in Fantasia and other Walt Disney films.

Preluding the Christmas festival, we play the ‘waiting game’ with a collection of music for the Advent season.

A visit with British organist David Briggs, heard in performances recorded in England, California, and Minnesota.

Composers old and new create music of awe and expectation that preludes the Christmas festival.

…refreshing scores for organ plus other wind instruments, including trumpet, flute, saxophone, horn and pan-pipes.

…a time for celebration, reflection, and projection of new expectations for the new season ahead.

…the splendid sounds of organs in the United Kingdom resonate with pleasurable grandeur.

…timeless musical gifts from many hands and many lands celebrated the festival of Christmas.

…a sampler of instruments old and new (and performers youthful and mature) as prelude to the Spring 2012 Pipedreams Tour in the UK.

…compositions from Sweelinck to Cage, honoring composers whom we celebrate for significant anniversaries this year.

…this multi-faceted English organist concertizes, improvises, transcribes and composes with equal enthusiasm.

…showcasing music by the foremost 19th century composer who did not write for the pipe organ, Richard Wagner (1813-1883).

…the splendid sounds of organs in the British Isles resonate with pleasurable grandeur.

…we get the month off to a right and proper start by putting our left foot forward!

…repertoire from several centuries exploiting instrumental sonorities and compositional textures.

…with an international collection of old and new settings, we magnify and glorify Mary’s Song.

An autumn quarterly review of recent recordings.

A visit with British organist David Briggs, who talks about his career and plays instruments in England and Minnesota.