Schumann’s was the first great piano quintet, an instrumental combination virtually unknown at the time. Amazingly, the two Schumann masterpieces recorded here on period instruments were written within the space of a few weeks. The Quintet is a brilliant virtuoso vehicle with a symphonic tone but these five musicians don’t turn it into a quasi-piano concerto with string quartet, as sometimes occurs. Rather, they meld their ensemble seamlessly and attend to minute details of phrasing and dynamics without losing sight of the shape of each movement.

Melnikov plays superbly on a Pleyel fortepiano built in 1851. He had previously recorded both these works on a modern piano with the Jerusalem Quartet (Harmonia Mundi, 7/12), yet Schumann’s textures fit the timbre of a mid-19th-century piano. As well, the distinct tone colours, clarity and ‘alertness’ of the wooden-framed piano with thin strings, and hammers with coverings different from a modern instrument, suit the music. The five players achieve carefully worked-out shadings; pianissimo really means pianissimo, and they sustain precise balances and delicate rhythmic inflections. I especially like the fiery passages where an early piano can be played quite forcefully yet not sound harsh in passages where sparks need to fly.

The slow movement reminded me of the slow movement of Schubert’s late, great E flat Piano Trio which, like its counterpart, is in the key of C minor. The musicians adopt a well-judged alla breve tempo. Antoine Tamestit’s viola unleashes the Agitato section fervently; then comes the brief yet utterly magical transition at 5'33" as Isabelle Faust eases into her melting theme.

In the Quartet, the scoring features more intermingling of the piano and the three strings, a tighter interweaving of the intimate texture, an implicit equality of all instruments. Queyras sounds comparatively restrained in the slow movement (listen at 5'08", a passage that Schumann marks espressivo) but he and his colleagues breathe as one. Highly recommended.