I was gratified to read Mason Martens opinion of Vierne in Rollin Smith’s bio of him: “Vierne is so much more interesting than Widow.”

Amen say I.

I went to the college library yesterday and checked out Smith’s bio of Vierne.

It is a beautifully made book that I could easily get lost in.

I looked on Amazon this morning and the paperback is about $75. The hardcover apparently is $400 more ($475) and can be had used for $250. Yikes. I have a feeling I will own this book eventually. I could use my annual music allowance from the church to purchase it. But $250?

I pulled out all the Vierne I could find at church yesterday and laid it by the organ. I played through the first piece in his “24 Pièces en style libre.”

I have played many of these over the years, but am feeling a new attraction and curiosity towards Vierne.

I was going to bring scores home for study while reading the bio. Then I realized they are all online anyway. I can pull them up that way for study and leave them by the organ for playing.

I messaged Martin Pasi yesterday and asked for permission to post the specs for Opus 26 (The organ he will build for Grace Episcopal Church will be Opus 26). He said yes and I did so since a few organists were asking me for details of the installation.

I post it here because some readers might have missed it there or are not on Facebooger (Hi Rhonda!).

My daughter, her husband and my grandkid arrive today. Eileen and I madly prepared yesterday. I  have a full day of work and need to stop blogging and do some stuff like prepare the psalm to take with me to college to finish off for the bulletin a week from Sunday.

Marcus Borg, Liberal Scholar on Historical Jesus, Dies at 72 – NYTimes.com

Borg’s wife was an Episcopal priest. How ’bout that?

C.I.A. Officer Is Found Guilty in Leak Tied to Times Reporter – NYTimes.com

Transparency is one thing that President Obama’s administration has pretty much failed at. Disgraceful.