Organ Works

As a schoolboy, I lived with organ music daily and the music master made sure that we were informed about how and why organs worked the way they do. What Howard Goodall does in a way that's both entertaining and educational is to share facts about the history of the organ and how it is built. He does this by taking you to see organs on both sides of the Atlantic which are historic landmarks - the oldest organ in the world, in Spain, for instance. Unfortunately, it no longer functions, but just seeing it is an event. He visits really big organs and takes the viewer behind the scenes, so that you can see how the complex and beautiful mechanisms that allow organs to make their glorious noise actually work. Finally, he looks at what technology has achieved by making electronic keyboards sound unbelievably like the conventional organs that we have learned the history of. He demonstrates this in Alexandra Palace in London, where he lets blindfolded students hear the very large pipe organ and an electronic cousin and asking them which is which.

In short, Howard Goodall does it again. He makes music more interesting and more lovable.