1994 Hendrickson organ at Saint Joseph’s Cathedral, Sioux Falls, SD

1985 Bedient organ at the University of North Texas, Denton, TX

1992 Bedient organ at LeFrak Music Hall, Queens Hall, Queens, NY

1969 Steiner-Reck organ at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, New Albany, IN

1984 Rieger organ at Saint James Church, Richmond, VA

Tracker Backers

Many performers still appreciate the potentials inherent in the pipe organ’s original, basic mechanical action.

Listen to the program

Program Broadcast dates:

• Week of January 30, 2006

Links and Resources:

• A great site that describes how a tracker organ works.
• Encyclopedia Britannica: In music, on the organ, mechanical system that transmits the organist’s action in depressing a key to the pallet valve that admits air into the pipes that the key controls. It consists of cranks, levers, and trackers which are thin strips of wood connecting, under tension, parts of the organ action and conveying motion from one part to another.
  On large organs with many stops and couplers, considerable manual strength is needed to operate the system and overcome wind pressure against the valve. In contrast to lighter 19th and 20th-century pneumatic and electric actions, however, tracker action gives the player direct contact with the valve, resulting in a more sensitive touch. A revival of tracker action began in about 1925.
• Printable program listings

Music played in the program

JACQUES BOYVIN: Suite on the 2nd Tone, Book 2 –Jesse Eschbach (1985 Bedient/Main Auditorium, University of North Texas, Denton, TX) Pipedreams Archive recorded October 5, 2003

HERMANN SCHROEDER: Kleine Praeludiun & Intermezzi: 2, 4 & 6 –Maxine Thévenot (1992 Bedient/LeFrak Music Hall, Queens College, Flushing, NY) Pipedreams Archive recorded October 10, 2004

JOHANN GOTTFRIED WALTHER: Concerto del Signor Meck. J.S. BACH: Chorale-prelude, Von Gott will ich nicht lassen, S. 658. HELMUT WALCHA: Chorale-prelude, Ein feste Burg –James Good (1969 Steiner-Reck/Our Lady of Perpetual Help RCC, New Albany, IN) Pipedreams Archive recorded in 1969

ERNST PEPPING: Kleines Orgelbuch, selections –George Bozeman (1984 Rieger/St. James Episcopal, Richmond, VA) Pipedreams Archive recorded November 20, 1992

G.F. HANDEL: Organ Concerto in g, Opus 4, number 1, movements 1 & 2. MAURICE DURUFLÉ: Sicilienne and Toccata, from Suite, Opus 5 –Paul Jacobs (1994 Hendrickson/Cathedral of St. Joseph, Sioux Falls, SD) Pipedreams Archive recorded July 19, 2005