Quintets for Piano and Winds

On this disc one of the world's finest pianists encounters one of the world's greatest wind quintets, performing two very special works: Mozart's and Beethoven's quintets for piano and winds. The unusual scoring has led these works to be performed less often than they deserve: indeed, in 1784 Mozart wrote about his work to his father Leopold stating 'I myself consider it to be the best thing I have ever written'. Twelve years later, Beethoven composed his Quintet, which he also arranged for the standard piano quartet combination. Beethoven must have been familiar with Mozart's work: the choice of the same key and the same formal structure (down to small details) cannot be purely coincidental.