"The featured instrument is historically significant [and] sounds robust, incisive, colorful, coherent, and clear... Florence Mustric has chosen a program that is well-suited to [the organ]... Mustric performs [her own arrangement of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition] in a classically oriented manner, with crisp, clear phrasing and articulation that match the parameters of the instrument and provide a refinement and clarity to the music. Mustric chooses registrations that are appropriate to each tableau and consonant with the classical character of the instrument, which serves to underscore the temperament of the music surprisingly well. With this performance, one hears the familiar in a new, revealing way. Sokola's Toccata is played with strength, clarity and precision. The most compelling performance is [of the Suda]. Replete with emotional energy, [the work] concludes with a whisper. This disc is a welcome documentation of one of America's most significant instruments, revealing its flexibility in familiar and unusual repertoire."
The American Organist ~ May 2009

"A fine arranger-player thrills with colorful Pictures on the organ. Florence Mustric's version [of Pictures] provides a fresh spin on a piece originally for solo piano. Mustric's adaptation is a particularly spacious evocation of Mussorgsky miniatures, with all manner of expansive tempi allowing for time to dwell on details that may fly by in other versions. Even to ears accustomed to Ravel's wondrous spectrum of orchestral colours, the organ transcription has plenty of convincing and effective registrations. Mustric makes use of the highest wind-like sonorities with great success, just as the pedals add ample weight when needed. The instrument's grandeur is put to magnificent use in "The Great gate of Kiev". Mustric plays the Mussorgsky as if the work were born for organ. The recording's sound is excellent."
Gramophone ~ June 2008

Florence Mustric has a master of music in organ performance from Cleveland Institute of Music and a bachelor of arts from Oberlin. In April 1994, in order to showcase Trinity’s world-famous Beckerath organ at the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cleveland, Ohio, Florence Mustric and Robert Myers, director of music, began Music near the Market, a concert series of themed programs presented free every Wednesday of the year.

The Beckerath organ employed in this recording has the rare and winning combination of clarity, power and warmth. Its versatility makes it superb not only for Baroque masterpieces but also for music of almost every other style and period. The goal in recording this program is to showcase the fabulous qualities of the instrument in some of the most beautiful and imaginative music composed over the past three centuries.

These recordings document the sound of the Beckerath at its half-century mark, before restoration. After 50 years, the pipes, keyboards and many other parts need attention. Leathers and other items need replacing. This Beckerath still sounds wonderful, despite the need for restoration, a project currently under the direction of Leonard Berghaus.

Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Cleveland, Ohio

This historic organ was the first large mechanical-action organ in North America. It was built in 1956 in Hamburg, Germany by Rudolph von Beckerath, who crafted it in the tradition of the organs of northern Europe in the Baroque era. With this organ, Beckerath demonstrated that centuries-old techniques of organ-building produce a beautiful sound that is transparent and powerful yet warm. Ideal for Baroque repertoire, this organ also serves music of many other styles and periods. It has inspired more than one generation of builders, organists and music lovers. This organ has 3,467 pipes arrayed in 65 ranks in five divisions.