"It's very personal music," Houlihan says, "full of lots of emotion. This music sort of welcomes you into Vierne's life. He wears his heart on his sleeve.

In Christopher Houlihan's eloquent hands, the composer's gloomily gothic writing proves graceful and full of life.

Once again, Houlihan was a first-class advocate, conveying the mellow rumination of the Aria with subtle colors, as surely as the jokey galumphing Scherzo and the enigmatic Adagio before closing with a sonic full-bore blast at the coda.

His deft footwork on the pedals throughout the concerts prompted one listener to dub him "the Fred Astaire of the pipe organ.