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 it's 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 it's six movements, a playing time of around 50 minutes and the grandeur of it's 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."