1992 Fritts organ at Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona

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.

It is as simple as Bach’s instructions, “Push the right key and the right time and the organ plays itself.” With that in mind, we’ll discover just how much diversity there is behind that seemingly obvious instruction. Listen to six American soloists on as many American instruments will treat us to Preludes and Fantasies, melodious chorale-settings and vibrant fugues. In a cross-country survey, from churches in South Dakota, Georgia, Michigan and Utah and university halls in Arizona and Texas, we celebrate Baroque organ music at its best and show Johann Sebastian the American way. It’s the United States of Bach.

Music that stirs the soul and produces provocative evocations of scenes from Holy Week.

Without travelling abroad, we can learn more about this music by playing on instruments attuned to his era.

…the annual Olde Yeare-New Year reflection, with highlights from recent recordings, concert excerpts, prize-winning performances, and more.

…a selective quarterly sampling of recent organ recordings, with emphasis on the unusual and unusually attractive. This potpourri covers a wide variety of musical types, performance styles, and organ-building attitudes as displayed on LP's, CD's and tapes of foreign and domestic vintage. Host Michael Barone provides revealing commentary.

A spring survey of recent organ recordings.