The Wigmore Hall, one of London’s most venerable recital and chamber music venues, launches its own label with this issue. It’s a recording from a concert given last March; a very good recording, too, combining intimacy with the warm ambience familiar to Wigmore Hall concertgoers. And the performances are splendid: there’s no doubting the genuine enthusiasm of the applause at the end of each work.

The outer movements of the Mendelssohn have plenty of fire and spirit. The climax of the first movement’s development section is grand and intense, with the following pianissimo full of romantic mystery and suspense. Yet I wouldn’t rate this performance quite on a level with the recent account by Ensemble Explorations, whose leaner tone and clearer textures (despite a less attractive, over-resonant acoustic) bring the work’s rhythmic and expressive character into sharper focus.

The Nash Scherzo is beautifully precise and delicate, but its very fast tempo pre-empts, to some extent, the effect of the finale. (Ensemble Explorations, with a gentler but still fantastical Scherzo, leave room for the Presto of the last movement to increase the level of excitement.) The Nash’s interpretation scores, however, through the immediacy of the recorded sound, and a live-performance sense of occasion, of joy in playing together. The Beethoven is just as impressive, the players seeming to inspire one another to make the most of this lively, colourful music. I particularly like the way they bring out the character of each of the finale’s variations without compromising the music’s overall impetus.