What contact even the most informed listeners have had with the music of
Leopold Mozart is usually limited to his Schlittenfährt and the so-called Toy Symphony, accredited to and partly compiled, but not composed, by him. Based on such highly enjoyable, though lightweight pieces, it would be easy to conclude that Papa
Mozart wrote the kinds of things little kids might like, not serious, heavyweight music like that written by his son,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. From occasional references made to his own music found in letters, it is clear that
Leopold Mozart viewed himself as a "modern" composer, and Arte Nova's disc Leopold Mozart: Four Symphonies bears this out. Featuring the
Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra led by
Georg Mais, these four symphonies are distinguished, independently conceived efforts of the 1750s and 1760s. Overall, these pieces are more ambitious than the type of symphony common during that time, which still had one foot in the opera overture stage of development. The elder
Mozart's symphonies are technically solid, agreeably melodic, and at times surprisingly forceful in expression. They demonstrate such accomplishment that one regrets
Leopold Mozart began to discard his own musical compositions as if they were just so much junk once little
Wolfgang's gift became apparent.