Just finished what I'll admit is an esoteric joy. Carl Maria Widor's Fifth Organ Symphony. I may rail at the idea of teenagers and twenty-somethings with cars blaring rock with 1000 watt woofers in the trunk making themselves deaf by 30; but a 40-ft bombarde open reed pipe is supposed to be able to clean the wax out of one's ears and a 70-ft open diapason pedal stop should growl. And they do on a 5-channel sound system with powered 150-watt sub-woofer. Yes, I'd love to be able to go to Rouen and listen to the Cavaille-Coll organ live, but since that isn't likely to happen listening to it on CD is the next best thing. Most people have, at some time or another heard the Toccata from the Fifth Symphony with its soaring high notes and rumbling base but the entire work comprises 5 movements and is 40 minutes long. It has a majestic opening movement, some quiet contemplative moments, times when one wonders how the organist gets all those notes in, and that finale. Widor wrote 10 of these symphonies for organ. Playing them requires above average technique and the resources of a very large pipe organ built in the French Romantic Style. It goes without saying that such an organ must be housed in an extremely large cathedral, a 70-foot pipe creates a standing wave that is over 200 ft long.