Don Campbell, author of the books The Mozart Effect and The Mozart Effect for Children, has brought together 12 selections from the works of
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for this CD, to be played as background music to enhance creative thinking and improve concentration in children; judging from the way this disc is marketed, fathers are included, too. This presentation is based on the hypothesis that
Mozart's music makes listeners -- presumably anyone, but especially infants -- smarter, and takes its place in the never-ending cavalcade of classical whiz-kid compilations released since the 1990s, when the idea was first floated. Whether or not recordings of
Mozart's music -- or Monteverdi's or
Miles Davis', for that matter -- have any effect on intelligence or other aptitudes has not been definitively proved, and seems difficult to measure. But one might expect that something more than the snippets and single movements offered here are needed to do the job. None of this album's tracks runs longer than 10 minutes, and almost all are taken from larger works. Such representations of
Mozart's music may suit Campbell's pedagogical purposes, but they do a disservice to the composer, whose pieces make little artistic sense when excerpted so drastically and crammed together on a CD that lasts only 51 minutes. Furthermore, the perkiness and brevity of these short selections might seem to encourage hyperactivity and short attention spans, rather than focus concentration or improve comprehension. Beyond these concerns, this collection is comparable to many other
Mozart samplers, and the program introduces as much music in bite-sized morsels as any toddler is likely to tolerate. The sound is decently balanced for the variability of ensembles and soloists, but tends to be overly boosted throughout, so a moderate volume is advised.