(I know this post will elicit some wiseacre comment or other from Dear Reader TCB and/or Dear Reader Tomovoz, but here goes anyway.)
I went to an organ recital this afternoon, Dear Readers, something I've never done before. The instrument was not just any organ, but the one at the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, which is reputed to be the world's largest church pipe organ. The organist was Ken Cowan, a very young and very talented musician. The program consisted of pieces by Bach, Franck, Karg-Elert (whom I had never heard of before), von Weber and Liszt. As an encore, Mr. Cowan played Saint-Saens' Danse Macabre, and to hear it played (and quite well!) on an instrument with, according to the informational materials I picked up in the church lobby, 346 ranks, 265 stops, 233 voices, 18 divisions and more than 20,000 pipes is quite an experience, indeed.
Confidential to Dear Reader Music Guy (that is, if he ever returns to this site and reads this post): I picked up some brochures that contain technical information about the organ. If you would like to see them, just let me know, and I'd be happy to send them off to you.