1915 Austin organ at Spreckels Pavilion, Balboa Park, San Diego, California

It’s not your usual sort of seasonal surprise on this weeks Pipedreams program. To prove the universality of the Christmas theme, we’ve conducted a global search and it has uncovered some extraordinary jewels, including a French Noel, variations from The Netherlands and South Africa, and settings of familiar tunes from Sweden, Norway, Germany, Austria, Lebanon and the United States.

It’s a game of getting-to-know-you. First a few notes, then some others and before you know it, we’re into a new adventure in sound. For hundreds of years, players have explored the limits of their instruments and of their own techniques in works that evolved from the sheer tactile pleasure of pushing down the keys and seeing what happens. Marius Monnekendam in the Netherlands, Robert Elmore in the United States, Girolamo Frescobaldi of Italy, J.S. Bach in Germany and many others have written some of their most exciting music following this scheme. Tactile and tantalizing, our program explores four hundred years of repertoire, instruments from three centuries, and the delights of things done by hand. Better than a good massage, with a tingling sensation guaranteed, we Reach out and Touch the Art of the Toccata, this week on Pipedreams.

We’ve a sampler of somewhat unusual and extraordinarly characterful music on our next Pipedreams program, compositions AND instruments by Americans, including James Woodman’s Lydian Versets, played on the John Nordlie organ at the Lutheran Church in Brandon, South Dakota. We’ll hear other pieces by Dan Locklair, Robert Elmore, Richard Purvis, and Philip Glass, played in Stamford, Connecticut, Collegedale, Tennessee, Portland, Oregon, and San Diego, plus we’ll visit the grand old Granad Theatre in Kansas City for some snappy show tunes from yesterday and the day before. Something’s got to give, when we break through maddining misperceptions and expose the pipe organ for what it really always is a marvelously magical music-making machine, playing everything from prayers to pops. We honor a nation of organbuilders and composers and celebrate The American Muse this week on Pipedreams.

It’s time to take the organ out of its religious context, and enjoy it out of doors at Balboa Park in San Diego. We’ll also visit other venues where summer concerts win new friends for the King of Instruments. From the Methuen Music Hall in Massachusetts to the Mormon Tabernacle, from Balboa Park in San Diego to the Berks County Museum in Pennsylvania, we celebrate a season of adventure and discovery, a sampler of seasonal recital venues coast to coast. It’s all about having some Summer Fun.

This week we take a listen to new recordings that represent an exceptional survey of four centuries of music.

This week, we’ll reflect upon events form the past year and take a look at some projections for the future.

The traditional summary of a past year’s events, with resolutions for the New Year to come.

In contrast to its preponderantly pious personality in church service, these pipe organs do know how to get out and “get down.”

Our own composers and performers know how to bring a unique and special flavor to the holiday season.

…If you’re out and about across the country, some summer organ concerts could be part of your travel plans.

…whether in Renaissance style or rhumba, when the pipe organ’s in the mood there’s no better partner. This week’s program is a display of the kinetic energy that surrounds the King of Instruments.

…getting in step with some bracing tunes that will keep you in good spirits and on the move!

…the traditional summing-up of some of the year’s activity in the world of the King of Instruments.

…we highlight a few of the famous pipe organs for which the summer season usually is particularly active.

From San Diego to Brooklyn, from churches and theaters, this collection offers warm and friendly greetings of glad tidings and good cheer.

A tribute to the oldest continuously functional organ-building firm in the United States, Austin Organs, Inc., of Hartford, CT.

A coast-to-coast collection of memorable and mesmerizing manipulations of seasonal songs.

Highlighting activities at San Diego’s Balboa Park, the Methuen Music Hall in Massachusetts, and the Wanamaker Grand Court at Macy’s Center City Department Store in Philadelphia.