The 1992 Ontko & Young organ at First Scots Presbyterian Church, Charleston, SC.

The pipe organ is not one thing but, rather, many - and our next Pipedreams broadcast explores some of that diversity while listening to instruments by six different builders, each one with a very distinct personality. A pair of organs in Ontario, for instance, make up in elegance and charm what they may lack in sheer size. Another one, in San Francisco, recycles 90-year-old pipes in a new configuration which both embraces history and creates its own. Yet another organ, built in Czechoslovakia, serves a Lutheran parish in Illinois and, when asked, can play itself. From California to South Carolina, it’s a North American Organ Sampler.

Sometimes faith is all that’s left. And all that’s needed when disaster strikes. All is not lost, and on the next Pipedreams broadcast, our music represents the rekindled spirits which responded to the horrific bombing in Oklahoma City, the devastating tremors of a Los Angeles earthquake, a hurricane in Charleston, South Carolina, and a chapel fire in Kent, England. Out of the rubble and despair rises harmony and new enthusiasm. Scott Raab, Wayne Foster, Kevin Bowyer, and Thomas Harmon show us the way with music of hope rekindled.

The pipe organ offers a player a rainbow of sonorous hues from which to draw, and while our next Pipedreams program exploits such opportunity, we also deal with a different facet of color. During the past century, composers such as William Grant Still, Thomas Kerr, Ulysses Kay, and Florence Price have made sizeable, if sometimes unheralded, contributions to the concert repertoire of the king of instruments. Whether in abstract visions or classical forms, responding to main-stream themes or spiritual influences, theirs is an important voice, as you’ll discover listening to a dozen remarkable works recorded by James Abbington, David Oliver, Mark Miller, Lucius Weathersby, Mickey Thomas Terry, and friends. Color me intrigued by the richness and variety of music for pipe organ by African American composers. Is it a paradox that we experience the full range of color In Black and White? The African American impulse, this week on Pipedreams.

Everybody loves a familiar tune, and these composers take advantage of some popular melodies from diverse cultures.

Highlights from the 1995 Organ Recital Series of Charleston’s famous springtime music festival.

Vibrant and colorful compositions by 20th century composers in the United States, important additions to the organ’s ongoing tradition.

Celebratory anthems and organ solos, domestic and imported, for the holiday season.