2000 Woehl organ at the Thomaskirche, Leipzig, Germany

We march through a sonically stimulating sequence of recently issued compact discs on our next Pipedreams program. You’ll savor some English instruments from the 18th century, French music from the 17th century, an Austrian antique from the 16th century and a clangorous composition from the 15th century talk about time travel. This week, you’ll also hear first recordings of new music commissioned by a forward-thinking church in Saint Paul, taste the glories of one of America’s grandest concert instruments at Yale’s Woolsey Hall, and relive the exciting times of a popular and well-aid virtuoso. Calvert Johnson, Thomas Murray, John Butt, Roger Fisher and others demonstrate the goods. We’re Going On Record with new CDs in review this week on Pipedreams.

What’s past was yesterday’s future. In this week’s program we take look in both directions by summing up happenings in the year 2002 and projecting our future into the new year. We’ll have snapshots from a European tour, birthday celebrations for some noted composers, a few highlights from superb concerts we’ve attended, and reflections on important personalities who have gone to their reward. Trumpets sound forth, ancient pipes sing out, and persuasive personalities make the case for the King of Instruments as we celebrate the New Year and savor highlights from the Old. This week we take our annual look back & forward by pondering the pages in An Organist’s Yearbook.

Although we’ll never be able to find a definitive Bach organ, we do know where he played and the sorts of instruments which influenced him. On this week’s show, we’ll visit the church in Arnstadt, Bach’s first important job, drop in at the Castle Church in Lahm, where he helped a cousin with the organ design, and at Altenburg Palace where, later, his best pupil, Krebs, was employed. We’ll hear an instrument by Silbermann, who Bach respected but with whom he did not see eye-to-eye, also the new organ at Saint Thomas Church, Leipzig, modeled after one in Bach’s hometown, and the extraordinary Hildebrandt masterpiece in Naumburg, which we think Bach designed. Bach traveled the countryside as Germany’s foremost recitalist, and we follow his footsteps to hear the sounds he knew and the organs which were important in his growth as an artist. Come with us to Arnstadt, Altenburg, Naumburg, Leipzig and Lahm, as we revisit history and celebrate Bach’s Royal Instruments.

…a visit with world-travelling New-Zealand-born British recitalist and teacher Dame Gillian Weir.

…in celebration of the ’founding‘ of the Christian Church, music on themes for Pentecost.

…In swinging Bach arrangements, Fats Waller improvisations, and original new scores, the King of Instruments lets it all hang out.

…a spirit of intimate reflection and anticipation is inherent in music for the weeks before Christmas.

…In swinging Bach arrangements, Fats Waller improvisations, and original new scores, the King of Instruments lets it all hang out.

…during his later Leipzig years, Bach revised and prepared a diverse collection of chorale preludes that were his final testament in this format.

…since the 18th century, the combination of organ with other instrumental ensembles has provided many good vibes.

…discoveries, authentications, arrangements and acknowledged masterworks by the greatest of all composers for the pipe organ.

…a summertime respite with performances old and new of music which, though chronologically old, is always fresh and new.

…in anticipation of the upcoming Pipedreams Tour in Germany, we sample various interpretive approaches of Bach’s music played on instruments in Bach Country.

…delight in the sounds of some of the instruments that will be visited during the PIPEDREAMS tour in Germany this week.

…diverse venues and interpretive attitudes explore the universal genius of J.S.B.