The Leonkoro (Esperanto: ‘Lionheart’) Quartet make their debut album following a string of competition wins. As I remarked in a recent Collection (2/23), it’s heartening that so many young chamber groups are now choosing Schumann with which to launch their recording careers. It’s unclear, though, what links the third of Schumann’s Op 41 quartets with Ravel’s sole contribution to the genre, beyond their being two works that have accompanied the Leonkoro through the early phase of their existence; but when you think about it, there can hardly be a better reason to record anything than simply identifying strongly with it.

On their own terms, these are admirable performances, the Leonkoro sensitive and responsive to the contrasting sound worlds of the two works. In catalogue terms, though, they come up against two fairly recent Gramophone Award-winners – indeed, two Recordings of the Year. Quatuor Ébène triumphed in 2009 with their Ravel, a work for which they too had maintained a strong affection from their earliest days. Theirs is, perhaps, the more authoritative performance, an improvisatory air stemming from their jazz experience informing a certain fluidity (as Rob Cowan described it in his original review) that is rarely matched. The Leonkoro, on the other hand, are all present and correct, everything in the right place and, it must be said, beautifully performed. Listen, though, to the swing brought by the Ébène to the second-movement Assez vif, which is more palpably très rythmé than the Leonkoro at only a marginally more mobile tempo.

The Leonkoro’s Schumann enters the ring alongside the Zehetmair Quartet, which took the laurels at the 2003 Awards. The Zehetmair bring a volatility and febrility to this music that is hinted at by the newcomers – their dissonances over the dotted ostinato figures in the Adagio molto really bite – but without consistently acknowledging the full range of Schumann’s emotional world. Nevertheless, this is a debut to be proud of, and gives notice of the potential of an exciting young ensemble.