Written in April 1791, eight months before his death, K. 614 is Mozart's last string quintet and his farewell to chamber music, yet there is nothing valedictory about it. The two violas open with a buzzing hunting-horn call, the finale romps like the best of Haydn (to whom the writing tips its hat), and the whole work fizzes with the mischievous energy of a composer at the absolute height of his powers, blissfully unaware the end was near.
