The artistic validity of the established 'historical survey' concert programme is steadily being eroded by current attention to both period style and instruments—how long will it be before this is reflected in public response? The 'classical' symphonies, in this case Mozart's early ones, sound less plushy but more convincing and vital when clothed, as in this set, in period sonorities.
Those on these two records were perfrmed, if not written, during his sojourns to London, The Netherlands and Italy and they are extraordinarily fresh and full of youthful adventure—sample, for instance, the delightful, musette-like Minuet of K32. Here is Mozart learning from what has already been done (the teachable element in composition) and exercising his own imagination en route to his own individuality (the unteachable part), whether by osmosis or purposefully.
The personnel of the AAM resemble a Who's Who of period specialists and if, as others have already remarked, their approach to the slower movements lacks something in warmth, it leaves these performances still unique and irresistable. The CD sound is superb and the medium makes selection from so many short items (14 symphonies, averaging 10 minutes each) simple. The insert booklet is liberally informative and is helpful in clarifying the confusions over numberings engendered by post-Kochel modifications. It is a most worthwhile, indeed indispensable, issue.'