Although the first two organs pre-date Sweelinck’s birth, and the third is a reconstruction of an organ from around 80 years after his death, all three allow convincing representations of the aural world of Sweelinck – not least in their mean-tone tuning. All are important instruments in their own right, notably the Oosthuizen organ. Although nominally dated 1521 from case markings, it seems likely that this was merely the date of a rebuilding of an even earlier organ, giving us a rare example of Gothic pipework. The Örgryte organ is the extraordinary 2000 recreation of a 1700 Schnitger organ by the GOArt team in Gothenburg. It includes an example of the Zincke, a top that Sweelinck is known to have made use of and which went on to become the basis of some registrations of his pupils in North Germany…
Sweelinck’s music fills the whole of the second CD, but he shares the first with Scheidemann (one of his star pupils), Byrd, and the anonymous composer of the Susanne van Soldt Notebook. The playing is stylish and the registrations reasonably appropriate… Lovers of 32′ reeds… should go straight to track 15, CD2! Recommended.
– Andrew Benson-Wilson
Early Music Review, February 2009