Leopold Mozart’s reputation has suffered more than that of most of his professional contemporaries, due in no small measure to the fame of his peerless son and to much spiteful and ill-informed criticism over the past 200 years.
Yet he was an acute and sardonic observer of men and morals, a superlative critic and teacher and, as this recording shows, a fine composer whose works circulated well beyond the confines of Salzburg and made the name Mozart famous before it became immortal. This disc includes the perennially popular ‘Toy Symphony’.
Yet he was an acute and sardonic observer of men and morals, a superlative critic and teacher and, as this recording shows, a fine composer whose works circulated well beyond the confines of Salzburg and made the name Mozart famous before it became immortal. This disc includes the perennially popular ‘Toy Symphony’.
Respectable symphonies from music’s most famous father
Works like the Musical Sleighride, the Peasant Wedding and the Toy Symphony have given Mozart père something of a reputation for musical frivolity, in sharp contrast to the stem, judgemental figure that emerges from his letters to his son. But he turned out a series of perfectly respectable symphonies that speak the Italianate lingua franca of the mid-18th century with fluency and skill, if no real individuality.
Cliff Eisen, who is editing Leopold’s symphonies for publication and writes the scholarly notes for both these discs, makes a strong case for the so-called New Lambach, long misattributed to Wolfgang. It’s certainly the most substantial and “up-to-date” work on offer here, with lively, well developed outer movements and a pleasantly melodious Andante. The other symphonies on the Naxos disc are much slighter. Slow movements have a certains sober charm, though Allegros tend to bustle and quiver to no great purpose, with a constricted harmonic range, minimal melodic interest and predictable repetition of phrases. The same strictures apply to the selection on the Chandos disc, though two of the C major symphonies here (C1 and D1) are enlivened by flamboyant horn parts. The other C major Symphony, C4, with its drone effects and “primitive” dialogues between violins and double basses, has a mildly rustic flavor…If Mallon and his Toronto band, caught in clearer sound, sometimes sound a tad decorous, rhythms and phrasing are always alert, while ratchet, snare drum, bird whistle and other assorted interlopers patently enjoy themselves in the Toy Symphony. --Gramophone Magazine, May 2009
Works like the Musical Sleighride, the Peasant Wedding and the Toy Symphony have given Mozart père something of a reputation for musical frivolity, in sharp contrast to the stem, judgemental figure that emerges from his letters to his son. But he turned out a series of perfectly respectable symphonies that speak the Italianate lingua franca of the mid-18th century with fluency and skill, if no real individuality.
Cliff Eisen, who is editing Leopold’s symphonies for publication and writes the scholarly notes for both these discs, makes a strong case for the so-called New Lambach, long misattributed to Wolfgang. It’s certainly the most substantial and “up-to-date” work on offer here, with lively, well developed outer movements and a pleasantly melodious Andante. The other symphonies on the Naxos disc are much slighter. Slow movements have a certains sober charm, though Allegros tend to bustle and quiver to no great purpose, with a constricted harmonic range, minimal melodic interest and predictable repetition of phrases. The same strictures apply to the selection on the Chandos disc, though two of the C major symphonies here (C1 and D1) are enlivened by flamboyant horn parts. The other C major Symphony, C4, with its drone effects and “primitive” dialogues between violins and double basses, has a mildly rustic flavor…If Mallon and his Toronto band, caught in clearer sound, sometimes sound a tad decorous, rhythms and phrasing are always alert, while ratchet, snare drum, bird whistle and other assorted interlopers patently enjoy themselves in the Toy Symphony. --Gramophone Magazine, May 2009
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