Pipedreams originated as a discrete series of fourteen broadcasts (offered January-April 1982), with content primarily derived from concerts recorded during the 1980 A.G.O. convention. These programs, produced at Minnesota Public Radio and distributed by American Public Radio (now PRI), were made possible in cooperation with National Public Radio. Funding came from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting, the Dayton Hudson Foundation, the Episcopal Choirmasters Handbook (John C. Grant), and Mr. & Mrs. Wesley C. Dudley (the Dudleys, thankfully, having continued as program underwriters through the entire history of Pipedreams).

David Hurd and Conrad Susa

… performances in Minneapolis on the Robert Sipe organ (1980) at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, and on the Holtkamp organ (1981) of Plymouth Congregational Church, with commentary by Philip Brunelle and Conrad Susa.

Program Broadcast date:

• January 31, 1982

Listen to the program

8205 Part I 64:59

8205 Part II 39:43

Music played in the program

Part I

DIETERICH BUXTEHUDE: Te Deum Laudamus, BuxWV 218

CONRAD SUSA: Fantasy for Organ, Brass and Percussion (1980 version)

MAX REGER: Variations & Fugue on an Original Theme, Op. 73

Part II

CONRAD SUSA: Fantasy and Tango for Organ, Brass and Percussion (1982 version)

–David Hurd, recorded 6/16/80 , soloist in Buxtehude & Reger; John Ferguson, recorded June 16, 1980 (1980 Sipe/Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, Minneapolis, MN) and Philip Brunelle, recorded April, 1982 (1981 Holtkamp/Plymouth Congregational Church, Minneapolis, MN), soloists in the Susa.

 

Conrad Susa’s Fantasy was commissioned for the 1980 National AGO Convention. After the premiere, he rethought the piece, added the Tango, and conducted its revised premiere at Plymouth Congregational Church in 1982.