Pierre Cochereau improvising in St Mary's, San Francisco Part 1

This recording come from an LP on the Klavier Records label KS529, 'Pierre Cochereau at St Mary's Cathedral' made in 1974. The LP had 4 tracks on side A by Italian composers of 16-18th centuries Frescobaldi, Gabrieli and Zipoli and whole of side B taken up with Cochereau's improvisation, which takes the theme from Frescobaldi's Ricercare, with a little help now and them from the tune 'Picardy'
The impovisation has five movements:
Fanfare - Theme stated on full organ.
Scherzo - Based on the theme Picardy, begins on the flute stops, building to full organ twice and finishes quietly as it began.
Gigue - A typical Cochereau rythmical dance, played on full organ.
Lamento - The celeste stops feature prominently, with the foundations being added later, ending softly.
Toccata - Picardy and Frescobaldi themes are presented independently, then combined for the finale.
St Mary's Cathedral is modern building replacing an older one destroyed be fire in 1962. St Mary's towers to 200 feet high and was designed by architects McSweeny, Ryan and Lee with help from Pier Luigi Nerve and Piero Belluschi. For such a starkly different building than its predecessor, it has it's detractors and a couple of nicknames, 'St Mary's Maytag' and the 'Bishop's Bendix', both references to it resembling the agitators in washing machines! The edifice is made of poured concrete covered with marble and is similar to a church in Tokyo, and intended to resemble a bishop's mitre.
The organ by Fratelli Ruffatti of Padua, was completed in December 1970 designed by the director of music Mons. Robert F Hayburn, voicing by Francesco Ruffatti, Allen van Zoeren, Jack Steinkampf and Roger Hardesty. Sadly the interior is covered in acoustic tile to bring the reverberation down to just over 2 seconds when empty and almost none when filled. The organ is perched on a concrete pedestal directly beneath an arch and has no casework and speaks very clearly into the room. From the photographs in the video you can see the general layout, Choir box at the back on the left, swell to the right, positif atop the swell boxes, 8' pedal stops in the centre with the great flanking them, larger pedal stops to the rear. The organ too is not without its critics, saying that it has a 'thin tone', and lacking foundation, especially compared to the very loud bombardes on the pedal division. The pipes are scaled on the small side and have low wind pressures. At least Ruffatti supplied a rather magnificent console!