This completes the Borodin Beethoven cycle – the previous five volumes consist of single CDs. It has proved to be a fascinating project, distinguished by fine, beautifully balanced tone, a sense of spontaneous expression and many musical insights. There are a few excessively slow tempi – No 1’s Adagio sounds ponderous and No 4’s Minuet lacks the passionate character implied by the off-beat accents (and by Beethoven’s metronome marking).

In general, I must say, those ensembles, such as The Lindsays (ASV, 4/01), the Emersons (DG, 7/97) and the Takács (Decca, 4/04), who make the attempt to get close to the often very fast indicated speeds, manage to convey that element of dangerous radicalism in the young Beethoven which the suave Borodin players miss. I feel, too, that they sometimes underplay the dynamic contrasts. In No 6’s wildly syncopated Scherzo, for example, some sforzandi are barely noticeable, while the final crescendo to fortissimo doesn’t amount to much. And in the first movement of No 2 we miss the feeling of mystery in those passages marked pianissimo. It’s as though the Borodins’ insistence on tonal quality gets in the way of a full expressive range.

Having said this, there’s much to enjoy and admire. The first Allegro of No 5 doesn’t have the mercurial quality apparent in some performances but the sweet, gentle character of the Borodins’ version is most appealing (and it’s good to hear the rarely played second repeat – there’s a wonderful unexpected silence before we return to the movement’s mid-point). The Andante of this quartet, too, has a bright, euphonious sound, with a splendid burst of energy for the final variation. Maybe Beethoven would have been entirely delighted to hear his quartets sound so beautiful. Certainly he’d have been impressed by the perfect way the Borodins solve all the technical problems he sets.