It might have been a terrifying set of hurdles in its time; but if today’s quartets are not awed by the technical demands of Schubert’s last string quartet, D887, they nevertheless cannot be detached from the friction generated through unnerving power and vibrant passion. Cuarteto Casals is not, meeting force head on in the first movement, certainly Allegro though not tempered by the call for molto moderato as well. Implacable drive is uppermost, dynamic gradations are wide, but responses to other expressive possibilities are understated. There is a measure of objectivity to the keenly rhythmic playing which even extends to the slow movement; yet the clarity of their texture, stark in tonal differentiation and far from diffused in conception, imparts a strangely provocative potency to the music. The Casals’ singular attachment isn’t in question. Nor is that of the Artemis and Belcea Quartets, equally singular in their own interpretations of a critical, even pivotal work of all-consuming intensity.

Nothing ingratiating here; but Schubert at 29 was radically different from the 16-year-old who composed D87, assured in both charm and depth of feeling. It follows classical traditions even to specifying (in the first edition) that both parts of the Scherzo be repeated after the Trio. The Casals repeat only the first, the Yggdrasil neither. That aside, these musicians shape the lines to reflect both poetry and youthful spirit. The Casals rightly scale down their steely resolve that paid dividends in D887 but prefer detachment to ardour, particularly in the slow movement.