Works for or with wind instruments (then called “Harmonie” in German) were an extraordinarily popular genre in the Viennese Classical era. Beethoven also created a number of works that call for wind instruments, including his Piano Quintet op. 16 in E flat major. It was written in 1796 while Beethoven was on his concert tour to Prague and Berlin.

Unmistakable are the parallels with Mozart’s corresponding Quintet K. 452, both in the key and in the sequence of single movements. The grace and se...