Rather a pity that I had only recently listened to the Arcanto String Quartet, one of the finest new Bartók quartet records to come my way in some while (Harmonia Mundi, 8/07). The Ébène Quartet are almost as young (formed in 1999 by students at Boulogne-Billancourt’s Conservatoire) and at times almost as good. They’re at their best among the languorous expanses of the First Quartet’s first movement, a superb performance by almost any standards – especially at around 6'24", hushed, spectral writing over a gently plucked bass-line – and at 4'45" into the finale, where a pivotal theme wafts back as if in a dream. And they pounce on the finale’s humour.

The Second Quartet is a given a similarly forthright performance, but where the First harboured ample mystery, that same quality is somewhat lacking in the Second. Nebulous as it is as a quantifiable virtue, “mystery” is a key component in Bartók – the outer movements of No 2 are full of it, and so is the weirdly scurrying coda of the Scherzo. All movements are well played but in this work more than most too much immediacy and earnestness comes at a price.

Not however in the abrasive, tightly argued Third Quartet, where bizarrely the Ébènes shy away from that element of unrest, even impatience, that occasionally troubled their performance of the Second. True, the sections interrelate as they should – it’s all very well played – but the perennial sense of shock that is so much a part of this wonderful work is rarely in evidence. I’d call this a premature venture, principally because the signs of great things to come are offset by…not quite being there.