Daniel Barenboim and Mozart make a heady mix and here the pianist is joined by three string players involved with his two major orchestras, the Berlin Staatskapelle and the West-Eastern Divan, in the two piano quartets. The years of collaboration between these players (and the fact that the violinist is his son) show in the chamber interaction between them; Barenboim’s default piano mode can be to play to the back of the hall at all times but here he reins in his playing with a naturalness borne of such a long involvement with the composer.

For truly sensitive piano-playing, try the E flat Quartet’s slow movement or the development of the opening Allegro; the finale of the same work demonstrates the quick-witted interplay between these four players. The more popular G minor Quartet, K478, is less successful in this performance, transpiring in an episodic fashion that doesn’t do full justice to the brilliance of Mozart’s writing in this masterpiece of the composer’s golden era.

Notwithstanding some in-concert noises, the performance of the E flat here is the one worth returning to: perhaps the lyricism of its broad paragraphs appeals more to these musicians than the pithy Sturm und Drang of its partner work. For full integration and a degree of subtlety in both works that is beyond the reach of these live performances, though, turn to the Leopold Trio and Paul Lewis, recorded in the more intimate surroundings of Potton Hall in Suffolk. Lewis’s ornaments flow more naturally than Barenboim’s, too, in readings that (in the case of the G minor especially) roll out with a greater sense of ease and inevitability.