The performers of most of this program are - or were - leading members of the Vienna State Opera Orchestra and its independent concert wing, the Vienna Philharmonic.

The G major Duo is played by the illustrious Ukrainian musician David Oistrakh (1908-74) and his son Igor (born 1931). In the late 1950s they formed an acclaimed violin duo and in the 1960s David took up the viola, which he had not played in public for 40 years, so that they could perform the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante.

Mozart often turned for financial succour to a fellow Freemason, Johann Michael Puchberg. It was for him that the composer wrote one of his loveliest, most satisfying works, the Divertimento in E flat for string trio, KV 563, completing it on 27 September 1788. Mozart may have depended on the kindness of friends, but he could be equally generous with his time and energy. On a visit to his old Salzburg colleague Michael Haydn, he discovered his friend too ill to finish a set of six duos for violin and viola. Haydn had managed to write duos in C, D, E and F, so Mozart quietly went off and came back two days later, having completed the set with duos in G and B flat.

Both the B flat major Duo and the Divertimento receive their first international release on CD.

‘I can warmly recommend this radiant performance of radiant music’ - Gramophone, March 1982 (Divertimento)