Glenn Gould, when asked his favorite composer, gave an unexpected answer: Orlando Gibbons. At first glance, this seems an irritatingly cont...

The classical music canon needs little defending. Time has the effect of weeding out bad music, which is why nearly everything we hear from...

In my former treatise , I explained the chief difficulty of the average organist: (s)he is not an organist at all, but rather a confused and...

The Episcopalian sanctorale, to the extent that it is observed at all, is a higgledy-piggledy affair. But it is gratifying, nonetheless, to...

The average church organist is at the distinct disadvantage of not being an organist at all. Rather, most are pianists, cajoled or coërced ...

It is altogether too easy for students to acquire the prejudices of their teachers. This is particularly true in terms of taste, which is m...

Like many renters, I have extravagant dreams of future home-ownership. There will be a library with lots of cherry-wood bookcases, and a su...

Today we made the trek out from Leipzig to Naumburg, to play the Hildebrandt Organ there. The weather being unseasonably warm for this par...

26 May (Trinity): J.S. Bach: Fugue on Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr , BWV 716 Niels Gade: Aleneste Gud i Himmerig 31 May (Visitation): ...

Last year an organist friend of mine presented what I somewhat derisively called a "Eucharistic Piety Concert". I suppose he'...

Alex Ross (whose The Rest Is Noise you should read. Go get it) alerts us to an account (related in David Cartwright's biography) of ...

Allow me to present a first in the history of this-a-here web-log: a repost. There is no other Easter poem I like better than George Herber...

17 March (Lent V, Judica): Flor Peeters: Audi, benigne Conditor Johann Philipp Kirnberger: Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten 24 March (...

5 January (Installation of Fr R.): J.S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in G Major, BWV 541 Jean Langlais: Pasticcio , Op. 91, No. 10 6 January (...

I have succumbed and already begun listening to Christmas music. Well, not just any Christmas music. I had the great fortune of finding th...

The other day an Orgelbauer friend of mine had an excellent idea that I feel compelled to disseminate. We were watching Midsomer Murders ...

11 November: attr. J.S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in C Major, BWV 553 J.S. Bach: Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier , BWV 730 18 November: Louis...

I cannot understand people who consider opera to be boring. Well, no, that is not true at all: there are many examples of opera that can be...

Though real work, as I mentioned , is satisfactory, it leaves far less time for leisure. This is particularly true in this particular month...

Much like having regular examinations in school, I find that regular recitals provide a certain measure of motivation. (Is this due to a ce...