The fourth and final album of the complete recordings of the piano works by Franz Xaver Mozart also offers an interesting insight into the work of Leopold Mozart and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, grandfather and father. It includes early works by Franz Xaver, the Diabelli Variations from 1824 and two of the last compositions- Leopold composed the four short dance movements in the “Galanten style,” and The Praambulum is one of the few notated examples of WA Mozart’s art of improvisation. Susanne von Laun has recorded the works of the three Mozarts, most of which can be heard on album for the first time, on an original instrument from 1812, on which Franz Xaver could also have made music. It is a fortepiano by Joseph Brodmann, built in Vienna in 1812, from the Beurmann collection

In the short period between strict Baroque counterpoint and mature Viennese Classicism, we find delightful and entertaining compositions of unprecedented elegance. Numerous playful and lighthearted serenades and divertimenti were often performed in open-air venues. In particular, the parks of the Mirabell and Hellbrunn palaces in Salzburg offered a suitable setting for such open-air concerts. These often featured wind and brass instruments and provided occasions for the musicians of the Salzburg Hofkapelle to display their virtuosity. Their reputation continued at least as late as 1806, when Christian Daniel Schubart wrote "Die Salzburger glänzen sonderlich in blasenden Instrumenten".[1] One of these soloists was trombonist Thomas Gschlatt (1723-1806), for whom Michael Haydn wrote the Larghetto for trombone and orchestra presented here. From 1753 to 1771 Salzburg was ruled by a great patron of the arts, Archbishop Sigismund III Count Schrattbach. As a generous donor he often supported his musicians with his private "casket funds". Today, he is best known as financier of the Mozart family's travels. Except for Leopold Mozart's trio, which probably originated around 1750, all compositions recorded here come from his Salzburg regency.