Music of the week: the church organ
One of my favorite instruments is the church organ. A few weeks ago we already listened to organ and drums, but those were just covers of some popular songs. However, the church organ is also used in original music, including some really well-known songs.
Next to Bach, probably the best-known appearance of a church organ is in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera. As a kid, first, I copied it from vinyl to tape, after which I also bought it on CD. It was one of the very few CDs I ever sold from my collection: after a while, I started listening almost purely to instrumental music, and it did not fit that world… But, as a high school student I still listened to it a lot – at close to maximum volume :-)
TIDAL: https://listen.tidal.com/album/619259/track/619270
Talking about instrumental music. When I first visited my favorite CD shop, I was asked what kind of music I liked. When I told them I listened mostly to instrumental, I was told I was missing out on the really good part. But I also got some fantastic recommendations, one of which was the album “The Eight Wives Of Henry VI” by Rick Wakeman (did I mess up the numbers again?). It is one of my most listened to albums of all time. I have it on CD, and now also as high resolution FLAC files from HDtracks.
TIDAL: https://listen.tidal.com/album/40992779
Finally, one of my recent discoveries: music by Gary Ginsberg and Vitalij Kuprij. All songs have piano in them, and some even the church organ. Unfortunately, while it is available on YouTube and TIDAL, I could not find a CD version or downloadable FLAC files.
TIDAL: https://listen.tidal.com/album/104821378
As much as I like the church organ, there isn’t much contemporary music featuring it. A few more songs by Rick Wakeman,Gary Ginsberg, and Vitalij Kuprij. If you know any others, let me know! You can reach me on Twitter / Mastodon / etc., the links are in the upper right corner of my blog.