EDITORIAL REVIEWS
REVIEW
Hans Stadlmair has been artistic director of the Munich Chamber Orchestra since 1956. This CD reveals an excellence of conducting and playing of Classical music off the beaten path. Leopold Mozart is more famous as the father of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart than as a composer in his own right. The music on this disc supports history's judgment as to the source of his fame. Yet some of this music can play an important role in propagating the greater Classical pieces.

The "Musical Sleigh Ride" and the "Toy Symphony" are among those vital pieces that serve young children as introductions to classical music. The "Toy Symphony" has been variously attributed to several composers, among them one of the Haydns (the famous Joseph and his lesser-known brother, Michael) and Leopold Mozart, who is the current winner of the attributions.

The most interesting piece in this collection is the "Sinfonia da caccia," with its opening movement depicting a hunt (a caccia), complete with yelping hounds, galloping hoofs, and, most effectively, firing shotguns. This is another great piece for kids. Unless your child is another Mendelssohn/Mozart/Schubert genius, this music is a good way to lead him or her to discover The Art of Fugue 20 or 30 years hence, with a way station at the Beethoven symphonies.

Get this disc for your kids or grandkids! But not if you consider hunting and guns inappropriate for young children. Get it for yourself, to experience the caccia--vicariously perhaps, but without mammalian casualties! -- Fanfare, Burton Rothleder, Nov/Dec 2009