Diapason - January 2000

"Best of the Auditorium Organ with John Obetz"

"Only the youngest DIAPASON readers need an introduction to "The Auditorium Organ". For the rest of us, tuning in our radios to catch this weekly half-hour show was a 26 year habit. In 1967 John Obetz became Auditorium Organist for the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ in Independence, Missouri. The following year he began the series of radio recitals that would broadcast the voice of the 110 rank Aeolian Skinner across the country from 1968 until the final program in 1993. Even though this is a "greatest hits" album of audience favorites, it accurately represents the mix of standard repertoire and more unusual fare heard on the show. (Those wondering about two other AO favorites - Paine's CONCERT VARIATIONS ON "THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER" and Barber's ADAGIO... can find them on the previously released "Auditorium Organ Encores" - RBWCD001.) The performances are all of the uniformly high quality radio listeners came to expect week after week. It is especially nice to have Thomson's quirky SHALL WE GATHER AT THE RIVER readily available on disc once again. Sound quality from the master tapes - recorded in the late seventies and early eighties - is very good with minimal hiss; the Trompette en chamade's silver stings are still thrilling.  The radio program's familiar voice-over introduction, with the opening bars of the Bach G Minor Fantasy underneath, is here too. This disc is a high-powered blast from the past, but, more importantly, it is a musical and eminently enjoyable compilation. Affectionately recommended.

- Randy L. Beighbarger