The Pro Arte Piano Quartet was made up of leading London-based instrumentalists, many of whom also played in the Melos Ensemble of London. Pianist Lamar Crowson was, and remains, one of the great chamber music pianists of all time (and a soloist in his own right). Kenneth Sillito led, for several years, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. Terence Weil was principal cellist of the English Chamber Orchestra and, like viola player Cecil Aronowitz, a founding member of the Melos Ensemble. Together they made three records for L’Oiseau-Lyre, the Decca subsidiary and they are all now issued on Decca Eloquence from Australia.

Mozart’s two piano quartets constitute two of the most important works in this genre. The first, in G minor, is full of anguish and passion, while the second, in E flat, conjures up the gentler, more romantic side of the composer’s nature – dreaminess, but with more than a touch of nobility.