Mailbag: “What was the Piece?”

February 22, 2010

Dear Michael,

I especially enjoy the variety in your programming, not only does it keep the program fresh, it encourages casual or first-time listeners to see organ music as more than the usual church-funeral stuff.
Late October WRCJ.fm Detroit aired 'Pipedreams" ending with a most unusual piece which you described as sounding like a synthesizer.
My check of the playlist did not show this piece. I'm guessing my local station may be on a different schedule. I would be most grateful if you were to identify this music. I remember your saying it was something about 1980's and the composer/artist first name being Terri?

Donald

 

Donald,

The information you provide is not helping me find what you want to know.
Stations, despite our specific directions to them about what to air, and when to air it, occasionally swap programs (perhaps they missed a distribution feed, and at last minute grab something that they had from months, or years, before.
Have you contacted WRJC to inquire about the specifics? Though that would necessitate your knowing exactly on which date you heard the program.
"Terry" might be "Thierry" as in French composer Thierry Escaish, and though his contemporary music is colorful in ways not typical of Bach or Franck, I'm not sure I would qualify it as sounding like a synthesizer.
On the other hand, I have been chastised for referring to some electronic organs as 'synthesizers' (though, in many cases, they are), the issue made more complex by the fact that I also have referred to the pipe organ as the first 'analog synthesizer'.
So, unfortunately, this leaves the gate wide open when it comes to tracking down the specific thing you heard. If you have any memory of anything else on that program (to provide some context for my feeble brain), that might help. Otherwise, my only remaining question is: why did you wait so long to inquire?

 

jmb

 

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