First, a puzzle. The booklet-note says ‘We have consulted Neal Zaslaw’s outstanding studies (Mozart’s Symphonies; Oxford: 1989) and have chosen the 44 symphonies that scholarship regards as authentic’. Zaslaw however queries the authenticity of four of the works here. He believes that K81 is possibly by Leopold Mozart, and that attribution is uncertain for K84, K95 and K97 – which leaves K73 and K74 as genuine.

Such doubts don’t seem to trouble Adam Fischer, infectiously alive to interpretative possibilities, a positive feel for style (violins are separated) and a sharp ear for ensemble balance. Mozart’s first C major symphony, K73, explodes into being, ferocious in momentum and brassy dynamic thrust. If Mozart had wanted to quell a talkative audience, this performance would have done so instantly. In contrast, the slow movement is lyrically shaped, the flutes given their due. K97 may be of dubious provenance but there is no suspicion of apologia in Fischer’s interpretation. Although it is a four-movement work, he, like Zaslaw, sees the opening Allegro as ‘an Italian overture in spirit’; and spirited it is too, superb in dramatic attack and refined in modification of tempi to suit fleeting changes of mood within the movement.

Fischer’s commitment is passionate. So is the orchestra’s response; and though timpani (inexplicably omitted in K95) could have been better defined, Dacapo’s wide-ranging SACD sound won’t stand in your way. What matter are origins. Why not simply love these works as six among the 16,558 symphonies written in the 18th century?