Borodin’s two string quartets have been coupled several times, and for long the most idiomatic versions were those made by the quartet that took the composer’s name. Whether in its original incarnation, with a record of No 2 made in 1962 and now available as a Chandos Historical reissue (listed above), or, when the two violins were replaced, with a Melodiya record made in 1980 and issued in this country by HMV (3/82 – nla), the Borodin Quartet has set standards in these quartets, and persuaded many that they should be heard more often.

The Lindsays do not ape these interpretations: for instance, they take the Scherzo of No 1 much more steadily than the fleeting performance of the Borodins, more as a dance than a scherzo, and they tackle the rather problematic finale of No 2 after their own fashion, by means of well-judged structural emphases making it a strong and just conclusion to the work. It is not an easy movement, and like some other parts of the quartet, such as the spectral central section of the Scherzo, they – and a careful recording – manage the textures beautifully (it is not the only part of these works where intonational challenges are set).

There is a less easy flow to the opening of No 2, and sensitively as The Lindsays play the much-traduced Andante, it is difficult not to feel the well-loved melody coming more instinctively, less lavishly, from the Borodins. Nevertheless, these are characteristically sensitive, thoughtful interpretations from a quartet whose fine work has brought us so much.

Unusually, they find room for the two surviving movements of Borodin’s String Sextet, a lively Allegro in which, as is often remarked, Borodin seems to be taking Mendelssohn on at his own game, and a pleasant Andante. It is an agreeable addition to an attractive coupling.