2000 van den Heuvel organ at the Katarina Church, Stockholm, Sweden

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.

…an eclectic and engaging survey of evidence of the pipe organ’s potential for color and variety, from recent recordings.

…celebrate the springtime festival of rebirth with anthems ancient and modern and sonorous solos old and new.

…invented by the Italians and transformed by composers everywhere ever since, the Organ Sonata encourages different strokes from different folks.