Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra are acclaimed worldwide for their recordings and performances of music from the baroque and early classical periods, and this enterprising new CD brings together pieces written by the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his father Leopold.

It was in 1764, when the Mozart family arrived in London, that the young Wolfgang composed the Symphony in E flat, undoubtedly assisted by his father and influenced by Johann Christian Bach. This was the first work of its type that he wrote, but despite being an experiment in a new genre, it is nonetheless a well-crafted, fully-fledged miniature work.

On the same tour he composed “Gallimathias Musicum” for the festive inauguration of Willem V as Stadhouder of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands, as well as the popular Twelve variations on the French folk tune "Ah, vous dirai-je, maman" K 265 (“Twinkle, twinkle little star”).

His father Leopold’s conscious aim was to write simple, undemanding music. In his time ‘the ordinary man’ had started becoming interested in composed music. Since the level of the amateurs was not such that they were able to perform the virtuosic music of the court ensembles, a demand rose for more simple music, and Leopold endeavoured to fill this gap. He often used uncommon instruments to give additional colour to his music, an example of which is “Die Bauernhochzeit”, a piece which draws on the sound of a set of bagpipes, as well as the Cassation in G 'mit der Kindersinfonie', where he incorporates children’s toy instruments. Leopold also supplemented many of his scores with simple indications for performance.