One of the many notable things about the Tokyo Quartet is that they play the ‘Paganini’ quartet of instruments by Stradivari. Not a gimmick but a real musical advantage, this level playing field has always had the potential to tip their balance of blend and tuning over into a league of precision beyond that which simply comes from their powerful corporate musicianship. On this disc, this is particularly borne out in the parallel passages of the Piano Quintet and where, more than anywhere else on this recording, the extraordinary homogeneity of sound that comes from a complete quartet of matching instruments is most apparent.

It can, therefore, be a strange criticism to suggest that this kind of persistent perfection can sometimes be more than the music actually needs. There may be considerable space for it in the Piano Quintet, whose strong emotions and agitated harmonic structure can at the very least support the kind of relentlessly sinuous reading the Tokyos give it here (especially in the electrifying Scherzo, which never benefited from a prosaic performance). They are remarkably controlled in the intricate and almost grotesque opening of the final movement, too, but it is less compatible with the more sensitive Clarinet Quintet, which does occasionally suffer from being a little muscled along. However, the beauty of the blend is so total that it is not difficult to put that to the back of your mind and allow yourself to be mesmerised by the overall perfection, especially as this is one of the final opportunities that will offer itself to hear this great quartet before it retires in 2013.