Dvořák’s American is the obvious candidate for a disc of New World quartets but the Brodsky have cast their net a bit wider to include Copland’s Two Pieces from the 1920s and Samuel Barber’s 1930s Quartet (from which comes the famous Adagio), as well as works by Gershwin and Dave Brubeck. Given the Pavel Haas Quartet’s superlative performance of the Dvořák, it would be perverse to recommend the sometimes irritating qualities of this Brodsky one: the playing in general sounds curiously thin and shrill; it can be gruff, edgy and nervy; and too much mannerism creeps in, in terms, for example, of occasional slitherings up to or down from notes which, in the slow movement especially, becomes tiresome.

Nor does the Brodsky’s interpretation of the Barber Quartet assert any pre-eminence over the Endellion’s, although the Brodsky do seem to be on much safer ground here. The passionate impulses of the first movement and finale are urgently voiced; the fluctuations of pace and tension cohere; and the outbursts of dissonance in among the essentially lyrical context make their point. The Adagio, if slightly over-egged emotionally, offers an affectingly reflective core.

However, the most persuasive playing comes in the shorter items. Gershwin’s sultry Lullaby is nicely contrasted with the spicy seasoning and rhythmic zest of Copland’s Two Pieces and the ‘Hoe Down’ from Rodeo in a string quartet transcription by the Brodsky’s Paul Cassidy and Jacqueline Thomas, and again with the sad, agonised chromatic fall of Dave Brubeck’s Regret.