Had I not encountered the blistering recent disc from the Elias Quartet, the Canadian-based Alcan Quartet’s account of Mendelssohn’s final string quartet would have seemed perfectly good. But comparisons are telling. Although the Alcan’s disc is evocatively subtitled “Requiem for Fanny”, it doesn’t explore the extremes of this music to the same extent as the Elias and the results are tamer. The second movement, for instance, is propulsive in the Elias’s hands, literally pumping with energy: most recordings look merely polite alongside them. And the slow movement ploughs a furrow of tender regret in the Elias’s reading, while the Alcan smooth over Mendelssohn’s sobbing musical lines. In the outer movements, the Elias combine greater energy with filigree detail. In the Op 81 pieces, too, of which the Alcan find space for two, their slower pace for the theme and variations (No 3) makes for a more genteel effect. The Scherzo (No 4) is Mendelssohn in Midsummer Night’s Dream mode: we get beautifully finished playing from the Alcan, but the Elias are just that degree more Puckish.

The Second String Quintet is such a masterpiece it’s a wonder it doesn’t feature more often in the catalogue. Here the Alcan, joined by violist Steven Dann, have a lot going for them. Alongside the fine recording by the Mendelssohn Quartet and Robert Mann, they are less high-voltage, which brings dividends in the glorious Adagio, though I prefer the Mendelssohn in the Andante scherzando movement. But I’d love to hear the Elias in this repertory. I can’t help feeling that for all the Alcan’s finesse, there’s a degree more fire to be found in this extraordinary music.