Franz Kafkas Literarisches Umfeld in Prag

Barbara Bonney has discovered what she likens to "a new species or a new island in the Pacific": 27 songs by Mozart's youngest son, born five months before his father's death. Though she admits that their importance is mostly "musicological," she loves them–hence this recording. Franz Xavier Mozart, not surprisingly, had musical talent, but it was his mother's astute business sense and determination to cash in on her husband's fame that fuelled his career as pianist and composer; she even added "Wolfgang" to his name. Listening to these songs, one can hardly escape the conclusion that if the composer's name were not Mozart, nobody would have troubled to unearth or perform them…