AGO San Francisco 2024 (II) – The Competitive Spirit #2539

Hour 1

JERRICK CAVAGNARO:  Christ in majesty, fr Four La Farge Improvisations.  CAVAGNARO:  Improvisation on Salve Regina (1926 Skinner+1963 Aeolian-Skinner/Trinity Church Copley Square, Boston, MA) Pro Organo 7312.  Mr. Cavagnaro won First Prize, and part of his award was the release of this CD album. 

Other prize-winners were Nicholas Quardokus (3rd Prize) and Ethan Haman (2nd Prize).  All three played the 1925-28 Skinner organ (Opus 477) at Trinity & Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church in San Francisco, CA (r. 7/1/24).  Each first improvised on a triptych of photographs by San Francisco organist-photographer Susan Jane Matthews (Golden Gate Bridge–Grace Cathedral–Dancing Grebes, East Bay).  These were followed by improvisations on a theme prepared for the competition by Olivier Latry.  The first hour of this program presents first the three Triptychs (played by Cavagnaro, Quardokus, and Haman) and then the exploration of Latry’s theme Cavagnaro.  Quardokus and Haman continue in that vein in the second hour (available online).

Filler – CAVAGNARO:  Improvisation on Foundation (Pro Organo 7312)

Hour 2

ROBERT HORTON:  Improvisation, Come pretty wag and sing –Robert Horton (2022 Pasi/St. George’s Episcopal Church, Arlington, VA) Pro Organo 7308

CAVAGNARO:  Improvisation on a theme of Jeffrey Brillhart -Jerrick Cavagnaro (Trinity Church Copley Square, Boston, MA) Pro Organo 7312 

HAMAN & QUARDOKUS:  Improvisations on a Theme by Olivier Latry (Skinner/Trinity & St. Peter’s Episcopal) PD Archive (r. 7/1/24)

HORTON:  Partita on Londonderry Air –Robert Horton (1938 Aeolian-Skinner/Unitarian-Universalist Church, Berkeley, CA) PD Archive (r. 7/3/24).  Mr. Horton was winner of the AGO’s 2022 National Competition in Organ Improvisation.

Filler – CAVAGNARO:  Improvisation – Theme (see Hour One)

PIPEDREAMS is supported in loving memory of Lucinda and Wesley Dudley by their family, with additional support from Walter McCarthy, Clara Ueland, and the Greystone Foundation, from Ed and Wanda Eichler, and from Andover Organ Company of Methuen, MA, and the Bedient Pipe Organ Company of Roca, NE, members of APOBA, the Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America, a collaborative of designers, creators, and maintainers of pipe organs found in religious and educational institutions, concert halls, and residences throughout the United States and beyond. An APOBA resource guide and member prospectus is available at APOBA.COM.