The new Virgin issue enjoys an excellent recording, with a very well-managed balance. The Nash Ensemble play with much technical skill and everywhere their tone-quality is much to be admired. And their choice of tempo in each movement seems just right. But all these attributes are present in the performance by the Academy of St Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble on Chandos, and rather more than that, I feel.
Take the first movement's slow introduction. While the Nash Ensemble play this just a little more slowly than the ASMF ensemble it in fact seems a good deal slower, for the phrasing is rather carefully contrived, and a little effortful. The ASMF play this introduction with a softer, lighter touch, and their phrasing is such as to move the music onwards. In the main Allegro part of the movement the Nash Ensemble play in good, alert style, but it's a rather plain approach to the score. By contrast the ASMF let the music unfold with more freshness and spontaneity, through a more flexible use of phrase and pulse, and there's more spirit and enjoyment in their playing.
A similar contrast may be found in the second movement. The Nash Ensemble's playing is somewhat reserved, and rhythms begin to plod a little, while the ASMF shape the music with much greater care and sensitivity. In the third movement Allegro the ASMF's playing has more life and personality than that of the Nash Ensemble, and they inflect the fourth movement's variations with more imagination and affection. Similar comparisons may be made in the remaining movements, and overall it's a case of a good, workmanlike performance from the Nash Ensemble being outclassed by an ensemble who have captured the work's intimate, relaxed Viennese style much more effectively.'