However, it was very popular and this led to the record industry trawling the dusty libraries of Europe in search of more forgotten scores, occasionally finding a gem or two. Mozart’s father, Leopold, was a competent composer of the type of music that was rescued. Most of the music on this CD is better than music written by many other minor composers in this genre. It is gracious and charming with just enough musical invention to keep it all running smoothly. There is still argument about the creator of this Toy Symphony. The ball seems to be in the Leopold court at the moment. Frankly, it would do his reputation no harm at all if some other musical journeyman were eventually found to have penned it. It is trite beyond belief and the toys are simply irritating. On this disc it is immediately followed by the infinitely better Sinfonia in D major. The contrast is remarkable, so superior is the latter piece. However, there will always be those to whom musical associations are more important that the music itself. So toy symphonies (such as the equally superficial Toy Symphony by Michael Haydn, and noisily empty works such as Beethoven’s Wellington’s Victory) will have their place. This music is well played by the Canadians and nicely recorded.

the famous Warnung) that are not included here. However, for what we do have, we should be very grateful. Many of these songs are known to music lovers from the still available records made years ago by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Irmgard Seefried, but it seems to me that Ruth Ziesak and Lothar Odinius outdo the older singers. The modern singers deploy their art with less affectation. Both Ziesak and Odinius have excellent voices and the right sense of style. It was a good idea to have some of the songs sung by a man; ‘An Chloe’, for example, is certainly the property of a male. Ulrich Eisenlohr (who wrote the informative notes) is a superb accompanist. Some of the songs are accompanied, in accordance with Mozart’directions, by a mandolin; one of them is ‘Komm liebe zither’ which sounds like a precursor of Don Giovanni’s Serenade. The least interesting are those associated with Freemasonry. The singers do not always sing all the verses in the strophic songs, texts and translations can be accessed from the Internet. The recording throughout is excellent with none of the metallic edge that so many CD recordings give to voices. All in all, this CD is an important and enjoyable release and evidence of the extraordinary renaissance of Lieder singing that has taken place in Europe in recent years.

L’Enfant et les sortilèges, translated as ‘The Child and the Spells’, is based on a libretto by Colette and tells of a fractious child who is taught the error of his ways by the objects and victims, both animate and inanimate, of his petulant cruelty. This gem of an opera usually comes up trumps in the recording studio and this performance and recording are no exception. The Nashville Orchestra is a vast improvement on the sort of obscure ensembles which often blighted earlier Naxos recordings. The combined choirs and soloists are also fine. Every bar of this work is perfect but I particularly enjoyed the dialogue between the rather belligerent English teapot and the more refined tea cup, to the same tune as The Five O’Clock Foxtrot, and the ‘Chorus of the Shepherds and Shepherdesses’ to the accompaniment of pipes and tabor and sounding reminiscent of Bizet’s farandole. Julie Boulienne, who sings the role of the child in the opera, is less successful as soloist in Shéhérazade. Her voice seems a little too bright for this veiled, sensual score and she also sings rather loudly at times. Dame Janet Baker and Jennie Tourel are the ones to have.