The Trio in E-flat major for piano, clarinet and viola KV. 498, was included by Mozart in his personal catalog on August 5, 1786. According to an unverifiable anecdote, the piece was supposedly composed by Mozart during a game of skittles. This is precisely where its nickname of the Skittle Trio(Kegelstatt-Trio) comes from. Along with Beethoven’s Trio, here in the version with clarinet instead of violin, both “Viennese,” were
written by each of the great composers around the age of 30. In this concert, pieces from the mature work of Max Bruch, an important German artist close to Schumann’s sensibility, are accompanied by pieces inspired by the beautiful clarinet playing of his son Felix.