Mozart himself held the Divertimento K. 563 in great esteem and performed it personally on several occasions. One of these performances took place at a private concert he gave at the Hotel de Pologne in Dresden on 13 April 1789, while on his way to Berlin. This is a work of profound meaning and intrinsic musical worth; indeed, it was written only a few weeks after the last symphonies, and it must be ranked next to the best quartets and quintets of the last period. "The entire work is not only one of his most mature chamber works, but constitutes an unsurpassed achievement of its genre" (Herman Abert). Just as in the field of baroque music, music from the classical period is now being recorded more often on "original instruments". The less romanticized sound does not only render the "classicism" in the pieces' structures clear; here, it also superbly brings out the elegance of Mozart's melodic writing. The ALEA Ensemble is a chamber music group that was founded in Graz in 1988. The group primarily focuses on contemporary music, but ventures into historical performance practice as well.