String Quintet No. 5 (Mozart) String Quintet No. 5 (Mozart) The String Quintet No. 5 in D major, K. 593 was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1790. Like all of Mozart's string quintets, it is a "viola quintet" in that it is scored for string quartet and an extra viola (two violins, two violas and cello). The work is in standard four movement form: According to the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, the finale was printed, and known for some time, in an inauthentic edition, in which its main theme, originally a descending chromatic scale fragment, was replaced in most of its appearances in the movement by
String Quintet (Schubert) with Kurt Reher on second cello (a 1994 CD reissue of this performance was awarded a Gramophone Award). Among modern recordings, that featuring the Melos Quartet with Mstislav Rostropovich (1977) has been acclaimed, and is notable for the exceptionally slow tempo adopted for the Adagio. Rostropovich later recorded the quintet with the Emerson String Quartet (12/1990) on the occasion of the gala concert celebrating the 125th anniversary of the BASF AG, Ludwigshafen. A few recordings of the quintet performed on period instruments exist, including a 1990 recording on the Vivarte label with the following lineup: Vera Beths and Lisa Rautenberg,