1937 Aeolian-Skinner at Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, PA

Composer and critic Virgil Thomson had the right idea. For him, regardless of style or attitude, if a piece of music was written by an American it qualified as American Music. And that’s what you’ll hear on our next Pipedreams program. There’ll be several zesty settings of popular hymns, jazzy toccatas, and dances including a boogie-woogie, picturesque scenes, historic take-offs, and even a profound Passacaglia, played on sonorous instruments by Rosales, Skinner, Hendrickson, and Wurlitzer. From California to Connecticut, from Bingham to Bitgood, ours is a coast-to-coast survey of colorful organ scores. Frances Nobert, Diane Belcher, James Biery, Diana Lee Lucker, and Charlie Balogh with the Wichita State University Jazz Ensemble are all part of the party as we sample American Perspectives, this week on Pipedreams.

Travel with us to the City of Brotherly Love. We’ll listen to a diverse group of instruments of various tone and texture, from a little Dieffenbach chamber organ that’s more than 200 years old to the lavish 1931 Skinner organ at Girard College. Our music also covers the gamut, from a Colonial voluntary to a Mexican toccata. Celebrate two centuries of the art of organbuilding in America, with a sampler of resilient, vintage instruments recorded in and around Philly. My friends in the Organ Historical Society and I invite you to join us for a celebration of The Pipes of Philadelphia.

Craig R. Whitney visits us to talk about the traditions and power of the pipe organ in the United States.

…performances from the 2002 National Convention of the American Guild of Organists.

Musical meditations for Advent on themes of expectation and wonderment.