Listening first time around to pianist Oliver Triendl and the Vogler Quartet in the great Dvořák (second) Piano Quintet I sensed something awry: not technically – they all play exceedingly well – but in terms of energy, which sometimes seems in short supply. The first movement (with repeat) is texturally light and interpretatively unaffected; but turn to Menahem Pressler and the Emerson Quartet and the heat is suddenly switched full on so that the transition from the slow introduction to the fast main body of the movement really goes for the burn. Also, good as Triendl is, Pressler’s observance of Dvořák’s espressivo dolce conveys rather more in the way of tenderness, an important attribute in this big-hearted music.

The opening of the ‘Dumka’ is similarly bland, whereas Pressler seems that much more engaged, the Emersons responding to him with a maximum of warmth: this is surely one of their best discs, a truly inspired encounter. The Vogler’s Scherzo is excellent – cellist Stephan Forck makes an especially lovely sound – and the finale is suitably mobile without pressing too hard, jaunty but relaxed, which suits the darker elements of the second subject. A good performance, then, but hardly a remarkable one. Either Pressler with the Emersons or Andreas Haefliger with the Takács Quartet would be my first digital choices.

When it comes to the wonderful viola String Quintet in E flat, perhaps the most interesting aspect of the Vogler’s performance comes at 0'22" (then at 0'45") into the finale, where the second violin carries the principal, jaunty tune, and the first violin and viola offer a slower, harmonically rich accompaniment, a balancing option that you rarely encounter elsewhere. The downside is that the duetting element between first and second violins is somewhat lost. The more pacy Panocha version makes the latter point more vividly. In this context the Quintet’s variation third movement is poised and pointed, and the cello well focused by CPO’s engineers. But at the final reckoning, the Panocha Quartet with viola player Josef Kluson would still be my first port of call.