Episodes: 2002

Further forays into repertoire for the organ “augmented”, in this case by brasses, strings, winds, and electronics.

Recitalist Herman D. Taylor provides perceptive introductions to varied works of African-American composers.

Sounds from the past, featuring 19th and early 20th century instruments between Milwaukee and Madison, played during a national convention of the Organ Historical Society.

On this week’s show, we’ll assess the not inconsiderable accomplishments of three talented offspring who made their own way in the world of music. Wilhelm Friedemann was considered Germany’s foremost organist. Johann Christian converted to Catholicism, studied in Italy, and ended up as the most celebrated import, after Handel, on the London scene. And Carl Philip Emmanuel, after a period of royal servitude, became music director for the city of Hamburg, a job his father lusted after but never himself achieved. Boys will be boys, but when your father is Johann Sebastian Bach there are certain standards to be met, and a degree of individual independence to be sought. Hear the the works of three talented offspring the Sons of ‘B’ music by The Bach Boys, this week on PIPEDREAMS.

We’ve scanned the continent for interesting sounds and have visited churches in California, Massachusetts and Illinois in search of exciting pipe organ installations. Among the choice morsels gathered include John Butt playing Spanish repertoire at the University of California, Berkeley; and Loraine Olson Waters exploring mostly French pieces at the little Mont Marie Chapel in Holyoke. George Edward Damp will also entertain us with english fancies at Saint John the Divine Chapel in Champaign, and Louis Patterson savors romantic moments at Grace Lutheran Church, River Forest. The repertoire’s international and historic, but the instruments all were made in the USA. An array of artists celebrate the diverse organs built by American organbuilders Berghaus, Buzard, Harrold and Watersmith.

We step out in a colorful procession in this week’s show by parading select works by American composers. You’ll hear everything from dances to gospel preludes. William Bolcom, Robert Elmore, Howard Hanson, Emma Lou Diemer and Leo Sowerby are just a few of the musicians represented, with works recorded in concert settings in San Francisco, Minneapolis, Rochester, NY, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Our promenade builds from subtlety to strength. If you’ve considered the organ an old-world instrument, think again and join us for a celebration of new world sounds, a virtual Pageant.

On our next Pipedreams program, Wilma Jensen is featured artist, proving that Nashville is not ALL country music. On the Casavant organ at Saint George’s Church, Ms. Jensen plays a recital on churchly themes, from bright preludes and quiet meditations to scenes of the Passion and hymns of the Resurrection. It IS all about love, and dedication, to music for the organ and the church. We celebrate the career of one of Nashville’s unsung star performers, a little woman who can make the big Casavant organ speak its mind. Enjoy the artistry of Wilma Jensen at Saint George’s Church, Nashville, TN.

We celebrate American composers with a program of colorful works to match every mood. From the new-age patterns of William Doerrfeld to the rags of Scott Joplin, from church pieces to concert toccatas we’ll explore the vast domain of American organ music. Fresh, exciting and new would be ways to describe the music you’ll hear. Works by Pamela Decker, Fred Hohman and Charles Ives among others with varied emotions and styles, and powerful gestures all under the inspiration of The American Muse.

It’s a multiplicity of riches on our next Pipedreams program, a sampling from sixteen new releases, including historically correct instruments at Stanford University in California. We’ll also visit Presbyterian churches Rochester and Buffalo, New York, Hexam Abbey in England, and the Cathedrals in Fulda, Germany and Washington DC, hearing Wolfgang Rübsam, Paul Manz, Gillian Weir and still others perform at the top of their game. From the Church of Saint Sulpice in Paris to the west coast of America, we’ll hear colorful music from four centuries of repertoire showcasing the king of instruments in all its glory.

Falling in love is easy to do, especially with the music of Richard Rodgers as accompaniment. Rodgers’ melodic gift in conjunction with lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein, gave new song to three generations. Folks flocked to such shows as The Boys from Syracuse, The Girl Friend and South Pacific, and tunes from those and dozens of other productions still resound throughout the land. It’s a celebration of a great American composer with some of his most famous and most obscure works played organs in theatres, naturally, but also in a home, a high school auditorium and a pizza restaurant. George Wright, Rob Richards, Tom Hazleton and many others will keep you On Your Toes with a Richard Rodgers Centennial Tribute, this week on Pipedreams.

On this Pipedreams program we cover 500 years of Iberian repertoire. From the 16th and 17th century antiquities of Antonio de Cabezon and Juan Cabanilles to the modern Easter outbursts of Jose Antonio de Donostia, we explore the seldom-played music of Spanish composers on Spanish-style instruments here in the United States. Trumpet fanfares from the Old Country take on a new aura played on stylish instruments in North Carolina, California, Ohio and Texas. From Cabezon to Donostia, we celebrate 500 years of Spanish Music in the New World, extraordinary sounds this week on Pipedreams.

Everyone has an opinion, whether asked for or not. On our next Pipedreams program we’ll argue the opinions of eight esteemed artists, each of whom has a personal view of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. I’m not sure we’ll find, or even desire, a consensus, but we will be provoked by the playing of Harald Vogel, Wolfgang Rübsam, Kate van Tricht, and Anthony Newman. We’ll hear them perform on various instruments from Bach’s time and other organs inspired by history and by the methods by which music was generally created when those particular organs were built. The greatest music demands the greatest interpreters, and we find out just how broad the interpretive stage can be when eight players and as many instruments pay homage to the genius of Johann Sebastian. The interpretive pendulum swings Bach and Forth this week on Pipedreams.

Our travels take us to Chicago this week, and the shores of Lake Michigan where American organbuilding traditions come alive on instruments from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Bill Aylesworth showcases the oldest surviving of its kind in Chicago, built by the Hook Brothers of Boston for the Scottish Rite Cathedral. Contrast it with any of the organs listed below, and you’ll realize just how varied organ music can be. Tune in and you might get so excited you’ll want to visit the place for some exploration on your own. Nostalgic zephyr and blasts from the past as we audition instruments from as early as 1875. Bill Aylesworth, Mary Gifford, Wolfgang Rübsam and others respirate the past, as we explore Windy City History, antique organs in Chicago, this week on Pipedreams.

We delight in young talent and celebrate in Seattle on our next Pipedreams program, with highlights of four exceptional players whose award-winning potential bodes well for the organ’s future. Rising stars and Paul Jacobs, though still in their early 20s, have already proven themselves. We hear them in recital at Church of the Epiphany. National AGO Improvisation Competition winner Justin Bischof whips up a storm at Saint James Cathedral, and Interpretation Competition winner Ji-yoen Choi demonstrates her skill on the famous Flentrop organ at Saint Mark’s Cathedral. They are our beacons, shining into the future of the organ art award winning young recitalists in concert in Seattle for the American Guild of Organists, working towards Earning the Prize this week on Pipedreams.

It’s all about the theatre of the imagination on our next Pipedreams program, as we put away our hymn books and follow the King of Instruments to the opera house. Enjoy familiar melodies from Rossini, Puccini, Mozart and Gounod, excerpts from Thais and I Puritani, The Barber of Seville and Die Fledermaus done up in a way you’d never expect. Hear Simon Gledhill at the Sanfilippo Music Salon and Thomas Heywood at Melbourne Town Hall. Delight in mechanical player-organs from the 19th century, and the stunning virtuosity of Wayne Marshall at Peterborough Cathedral. These magic flutes sing a different song, as we explore repertoire from the lyric stage minus the prima donas and helden tenors. Enjoy highlights from Puccini and Donizetti, Mozart, Massenet and Vincenzo Bellini, as we present the extraordinary, even nutritious (?) sounds of organic opera this week on Pipedreams.

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.

It’s a sophisticated gathering of friendly collaborators and the King of Instruments on this week’s Pipedreams program. We’ll feature five centuries of repertoire, for organ and saxophone, organ and trumpet, organ and flute, organ with choir and brass ensemble, in works by Duke Ellington, Claude Debussy, Henk Badings, J.S. Bach, Giovanni Gabrieli…really an all-star cast. We’ll also play around with some oddities, too, a very old piece written for the organ to be played along with the tolling church bell, and a wonderfully zesty concerto by Michel Corrette, proving that Handel wasn’t alone in knowing that pipes and chamber orchestra make a superb package. Organ and Chamber Orchestra are among the many pleasureful pairings of pipes. Get yourself a real earful, with Organ Plus, this week on Pipedreams.

Spiritual mystery and intellectual clarity may seem incompatible concepts, but for composer Olivier Messiaen, probing them was his life and his art. On our next Pipedreams program, we explore his music that many consider to be the most important written for the organ since Bach: his vivid tonal visions of the Eternal Church, his aural pageants descriptive of Christmas scenes, Pentecostal zeal, and Trinitarian principals. The composer himself, eight of his students and disciples, plus one determined and talented youth who is playing the entire cycle in 9-hour marathon concerts, honor his memory ten years after his death. Pentecostal Tongues and Serene Alleluias sound in praise of a higher power while a remarkable man sees colors in sound and reveals his profound faith in art. Enter a surprisingly satisfying world. We are Attuned to Messiaen…this week on Pipedreams.