Organ Improvisation

Pierre Pincemaille, titulaire organist of St-Dénis in Paris, presented an organ recital on April 19 at St. Mark's Episcopal Church on the 60-stop Casavant organ there. This provided the germ for today's radio program. M. Pincemaille's improvisations from the April 19 recital figure prominently in the 3rd hour of this program, while other organ improvisation is featured in the first hour.

James Welch, organist of St. Mark's and Dean of the Palo Alto chapter of the American Guild of Organists had been scheduled to come and help explain some of the features of M. Pincemaille's work, but was unable to come because of extreme time pressure in the week leading up to his wedding. In honor of this, I have included a section of "Music you don't want at your wedding", a good-natured poke at music that is (beneath the surface) inappropriate to weddings.


Fanfare I (CD: Praise the Lord) (Gerre Hancock, organ) Marcel Dupré: Prelude no. 1 in B major (CD: Great Organs (Jane Watts, organ) of Europe No. 18) Charles Tournemire: Improvisation on the Te Deum (CD: Praise the Lord) (Gerre Hancock, organ) Billy Strayhorn: Lotus Blossom (improv. Alec Wyton) (CD: Choral and Organ (Owen Burdick, organ ) Music of Alec Wyton) Johann Pachelbel: Was Gott tut, das is wohlgetan (LP: Organs in America: (Bruce Stevens, organ) Taylor & Boody Opus 3, 1980) Johannes Brahms: String quartet in F, op. 41, no. 2 (CD: Brahms: (Melos Quartet) String Quartets)
Henry Purcell: Trumpet tune from `King Arthur' (CD: Coronation (Barry Rose) Anthems & Hymns) William Byrd: Missa: In tempore paschali (CD: Byrd: In (Chanticleer) Tempore Paschali) George Frideric Handel, arr. Dryburgh: Pastoral Symphony, from Messiah (Peninsula Women's Chorus; Patricia Hennings) Rodgers and Hammerstein: The Sound of Music (CD: Soundtrack: Main title The Sound of Music) Grand waltz Ländler Processional waltz Processional / Maria Richard Wagner: Lohengrin (CD: Wagner: Lohengrin) Prelude to Act III Treulich gefürt [Bridal Chorus] (Wiener Staatsopernchor; Wiener Philharmoniker; Rudolf Kempe) Felix Mendelssohn: A midsummer night's dream (CD: Mendelssohn: A Wedding March Midsummer Night's (Rotterdam Philharmonic Dream) Orchestra; Jeffrey Tate)
Fanfare I (CD: Praise the Lord) (Gerre Hancock, organ) Improvisation on "Lauda Anima" (Pierre Pincemaille, organ) Encore on the Marseillaise (Pierre Pincemaille, organ) Gabriel Fauré: Chansons Après un rêve Toujours Le secret Nôtre amour (Kathryn Tenney, mezzo-soprano; James Welch, piano) John Goss: Praise, my soul (CD: Coronation (Choir of St. Paul's Anthems & Hymns) Cathedral; Barry Rose)
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