Max Reger’s great first compositional period ended with his Second Sonata for Organ, Opus 60, written in 1901 at the time of his move from Weiden to Munich. It is a good introduction to his work, because it is concise, but has a lot of variation of form and technique.

On his move to Munich in 1901, Max Reger’s music, even by his standards, became more involved and difficult, and the signature work from this time is his set of variations on a theme by Bach, one of six great sets of variations he wrote. This work was written for piano, but conductor Ira Levin, using Reger’s own orchestration of his Beethoven Variations as an inspiration, has orchestrated the work.

This documentary film attempts to prise open Reger’s music, to equate it with his biography and the context of his life, and to combine discussion of his music with footage of performers playing excerpts from major works in many forms – lieder, orchestral and instrumental works, and the organ music from his great Weiden period of 1898 to 1901.

Westminster Cathedral’s Grand Organ Festival 2017 ended on Wednesday 29 November with a recital by the Cathedral’s Master of Music, Martin Baker. In his role as RCO President, Martin arranged for this also to be an occasion for members of the College’s Anniversary Circle and other supporters to enjoy a pre-concert talk and post-concert reception in the atmospheric surroundings of the Clergy House Library.

Those of us who attended the RCO/Cinema Organ Society Organ Day at the Troxy Cinema in London’s East End last January are aware of the skills of organists like Richard Hills FRCO – equally at home on the classical as well as the cinema organ. Now, a year on, another celebrated classical organist will step up to the Troxy Wurlitzer – Thomas Trotter gives his first concert on the cinema organ this coming January, in the company of Simon Gledhill. We look at the legacy of other crossover artists in the organ world.

Richard Brasier discusses the performance of the organ music of the Classical period: repertoire between the Baroque and Romantic that is often neglected.

How did Olivier Messiaen combine the creative life with the conventions and strictures of his role as organist? And how can that help us understand and perform his music? In this year’s RCO Organ Forum at the Royal Academy of Music, Artistic Director Robert Sholl brought together academic and performance experts to answer these questions, in a celebration of Messiaen’s work held in this, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the composers’ death.

The College was a partner in the inaugural Guildhall Organ Festival in Derry-Londonderry at the end of October. A packed programme over three days was led by artistic director Catherine Ennis, supported by Daniel Moult, using the three-manual Hill organ in the Guildhall as the centrepiece, and included workshops, concerts, music for traditional Irish instruments with the organ, and a Battle of the Organs, featuring Sir Roger Gifford on recorder.

This video, written and presented by Robin Harrison, gives exercises to help you develop your inner ear: exploring rhythm, melody and counterpoint, harmony, and learning to identify the nationality and historical period of a piece of music.