Piano Quartet No. 2 in E flat major, K.493

A piano quartet is a piano with three string players: violin, viola and cello. Mozart gives all four real parts, and they pass themes back and forth like speakers in a conversation.

Allegro. The first movement opens with a confident, friendly theme, then moves through contrasting ideas, with the piano and strings answering each other. The mood is bright but has moments of shadow.

Larghetto. The slow movement is the emotional center. A soft, singing melody begins in the piano and is taken up by the strings, with gentle, long lines and a calm, tender feeling. Listen for the viola, which has a more important role than in many works of this time.

Allegretto. The finale is a rondo, a form where the main tune keeps coming back between different episodes. Its refrain is cheerful and light, and Mozart varies it each time it returns, so the movement feels playful and full of small surprises. It ends with a clear, happy close.

Mozart wrote this quartet in Vienna in 1786. The publisher Franz Anton Hoffmeister had commissioned a set of piano quartets from him, a new kind of chamber music at the time. The first one, in G minor, was considered too difficult by the buying public, and the plan to publish more was dropped. Mozart nonetheless wrote this second quartet, in the more genial key of E-flat. Together the two quartets are among the first great works for this combination of instruments, and they influenced later composers.