Utrecht

Saturday 30^th June

On my last day in Amsterdam, I headed to the nearby town of Utrecht as my friend Brent was performing in a free concert of the Bach B minor Mass in the Utrecht Dom (Cathedral). Although I slept a little later than planned, I still got to have a bit of a wander through the town before the concert and visit one of the museums which really intrigued me.

The Museum from Musical Clock to Theatre Organ is a slightly odd collection of all varieties of automated mechanical musical instruments. From chiming clocks to pianolas through to street organs and enormous theatre organs with orchestral instruments inside, all of these instruments play themselves. Some were very cute, including animated figures as well as the music, and some were hilarious, like the player piano that also contained 3 Violins that played themselves! The grand finale was an enormous organ that played a Robbie Williams song (Let Me Entertain You) and Rock Around The Clock.

The concert was really great. Brent sings in the regular cathedral choir and they often perform free Saturday afternoon concerts as well as singing at the services in the Cathedral. They performed with full baroque orchestra (including a theorbo continuo) and some excellent soloists. Although a lot of the faster sections were swamped a little by the cathedrals bathroom-like acoustic, it was a fantastic performance.

The cathedral itself is quite plain, but interesting, as the bell tower is a small distance from the main body of the cathedral. Apparently they used to be part of the same building, but due to poor workmanship, the middle section of the cathedral collapsed, never to be rebuilt, leaving 2 separate buildings.