1863 Hook organ at Immaculate Conception Church, Boston, Massachusetts

Listen, my children, and you shall hear On this week’s Pipedreams program, soloists Leo Abbott, Tom Murray, Fred MacArthur, Catharine Crozier, and Brian Jones will take you on a tour of historic instruments in Beantown - from the immense Aeolian-Skinner organ at the Christian Science Mother Church, the E.M. Skinner instrument at Old South Church moved from Saint Paul, MN, and the historic Hooks in Jamaica Plain and the Immaculate Conception Church.

The magnificent Organ Sonata by Sir Edward Elgar is but one of the highlights of this week’s Pipedreams broadcast. In it, four players, two in London and two in New England, will revel in an almost orchestral wash of color. Joseph Payne plays from the Mulliner Book, Malcolm Archer takes us to Lancaster Town Hall, Robert Wolley performs 16th century music on an instrument equally old, and Colin Walsh has a blast at Lincoln Cathedral. Experience the lush sounds that characterize organ music from jolly old England. Beyond Bach and Franck and Widor, there’s a wonderful realm of experience awaiting us in the works of British composers. From the Mulliner Book and early pieces by Orlando Gibbons and Dr. John Bull, through the proud pages of Hubert Parry and Charles Stanford, to the entire First Sonata by Edward Elgar, we prove it’s not a desert island as regards its organ music. Come and celebrate England’s Glory, this week on Pipedreams.

The principality of Liechtenstein may be one of Europe’s smallest corners, but from it sprang one of the late 19th century’s most prolific and important organists and teachers. Josef Rheinberger is the focus of our next Pipedreams program. He’s a one-time child prodigy who already was playing in church at age seven and who reigned as harmony, counterpoint and history professor at the Royal Academy of Music in Munich for three decades. A dozen different soloists join us as we follow the trail of his prodigious and influential talent from his very first compositions through the Sonatas and Concertos by which he is still remembered. He was a master in the grand romantic tradition, one of the most prolific protagonists of the organ, and a teacher of some of America’s best turn-of-the-century composers. Discover treasures from a bygone day, and join us for the glorious music of Josef Rheinberger, as we embark on Rheinberger’s Journey, this week on Pipedreams.

From sprightly Renaissance dances to grandious symphonies, this week’s show celebrates the many diverse elements which make organ music so remarkable, and a mirror of changes in western culture. Style, emotion, compositional and mechanical ingenuity all play a part in creating music of joy and contemplation, of restraint and exhultation. Whether in folk-song improvisation or anthem accompaniment, flashy toccata or rhumba-inspired trumpet voluntary, the pipe organ does it all. Listen to newly released compact discs from around the world in this sonic spectacular.

…on the eve of the 2014 American Guild of Organists convention, we enjoy historic instruments by the Boston builders Elias and George Hook, recorded in and around Boston during an Organ Historical Society Convention.

…the splendid sounds of historic instruments are all around us, if we care enough to listen and to preserve them.