The Lendvai Trio’s previous disc of Röntgen string trios (2/14), featuring Nos 1 4, was one of the great surprises of the year to date: four delightful chamber works, warmly lyrical, quirky in expression with little of the longueurs or repetitiveness to which this composer sometimes fell victim, all superbly played by the Lendvai Trio and caught in excellent sound by Champs Hill. Could the next batch maintain the same level of quality all round?

Well, the answer is a resounding ‘yes’. Röntgen may have churned trios out in unusually large numbers, often in rapid succession – Nos 5 7 here were written a few months apart in 1920, with No 8 following in 1923 – but he clearly had a real talent for these intimate dialogues, not intended as public statements. The writing is lean, with a rather Classical (or neo-classical) feel. The slow movements display a winning lyricism – not quite equalling that of the First, perhaps – and in Nos 6 and 7 sport a rather folk-like tint (as with Nos 3 and 4). Harmonically, the music sounds of its time but what compels attention throughout is the sense of fun, particularly in the scherzos. Nos 6 and 7 are four-movement designs with discrete scherzo, whereas the Fifth’s scherzo finale plays tag with the listener’s expectations of what theme it should end with before sidestepping the question completely. The tripartite Eighth is almost built out of three scherzos, their gentle humour making for a most satisfying whole.

The Lendvai Trio once more acquit themselves with flying colours, their infectious enthusiasm consistently communicated. As I said of Vol 1, ‘With beautifully clear, natural sound, listening to this disc is a delightful way to spend an hour’: so is Vol 2.