After composing his three last symphonies in as many months in the summer of 1788, Mozart started out on another mammoth project – a trio for strings of truly symphonic proportions. This visionary work with its somewhat unpretentious title "Divertimento in E flat major" revealed itself to be the quintessence of everything Mozart stood for as composer, craftsman and dramaturge. With its six movements, a playing time of around 50 minutes and the grandeur of its musical lines it puts all earlier chamber music compositions in the shade. Mozart biographer Alfred Einstein writes: “it is a true chamber-music work and grew to such large proportions only because it was intended to offer… something special in the way of art, invention, and good spirits… one of his noblest works.”
