The Symfunny Orchestra consists of 15 toy instruments: 2 recorders, clarinet, trumpet, pan harmonica, 4 xylophones, wood blocks, plastic guitar, 2 pianos, drum kit and tambourine.  The liner notes state total cost for these instruments was $229.65 (Canadian).  Who says you need big bucks to finance a recording?

If you look at that list of instruments, you will realize that you are not going to hear be a whole lot of warmth and rich harmonies.  In fact, I can't listen to more than a couple of cuts from this disc in one sitting; it's just too shrill.  Even something that starts out pleasantly, such as Mozart's Rondo All Turca, wears out its welcome before it's done.  The two cuts that work best for me are an excerpt from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Brahm's Waltz in A Flat (that one has a nice, nearly music-box quality)--can it be a coincidence that they are also the shortest cuts?

That said, this could be a good gag gift for someone.  The opening to Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto is hilarious (if I were programming an April Fools Day radio show, it would definitely be in there).  You are not going to hear anything like this anywhere else.  And supposedly kids love hearing the toy instruments.

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from 1994 issues of The Off-Center Record newsletter