Utrecht, 1831 [Hauptwerk]

The organ of the Domkerk Utrecht, Netherlands

The present instrument incorporates parts of an earlier organ, namely the 1569 - 1571 Peter Janszoon de Swart renaissance organ. From this famous and capable organ builder 6 stops in the Rugwerk, 3 in the Bovenwerk, and 2 in the Pedal still remain in the instrument.

The Bätz organ company, one of the leading organ builders in the Netherlands during the 18th and 19th century, built a totally new instrument as we see it today in its present form, while using several old stops, as indicated above. Nevertheless the company created an instrument in the style of the early 19th century.

The organ is widely acclaimed for its mild tone and its expressive tremulants which make the instrument really suitable for the romantic style of compositions, especially the Dutch romantic (and post-romantic) music. This time, recording the tremmed ranks was indispensable to preserve the special character of the instrument. Most of the ranks of the Ist and IIIrd manuals are, therefore, included also with the recorded tremmed ranks.

The church building is really generous in space. It is however only a fraction of its original size, the great nave was destroyed in the past, so that only the Choir plus the Transept remains. The organ is positioned centrally in the back wall of the Transept. Perhaps because of this, the sound is rather diffused. This sample set is therefore really very "wet", unlike other sample sets from the Sonus Paradisi collection.