The Gringolts Quartet is a remarkable group. These highly accomplished players achieve a near-perfect blend of sound, effortless precision and unanimity of style. The slow movements of the quartets are notable for their beautiful sonorities and for a flexibility that allows changes of mood to be brought out without disturbing the music’s natural flow. The group’s virtuoso brilliance can be heard at the end of the A minor Quartet, Op 51 No 2, and in the first movement of the one in C minor, Op 51 No 1. However, in this last case, though it’s an extraordinary achievement to play such a rhythmically complex piece so fast, I find the result to be not merely agitated but moving towards frenzy. And even in those lovely slow movements, others have projected Brahms’s melodies with greater eloquence, for instance the Alban Berg Quartet. The performances do include several high points. I’ll single out the last two movements of the B flat Quartet, Op 67: the Agitato third movement notable for the magnificent viola-playing of Silvia Simionescu, the finale exceptionally well characterised, with each variation distinguished by its own tonal quality.

The Piano Quintet similarly mixes outstanding moments with less successful ones. In the Scherzo, the sinister quiet passages create a powerful feeling of suspense but the climaxes are oddly disappointing. Certainly Peter Serkin, playing with the Guarneri Quartet, creates a more powerful effect here, and in the preceding Andante he helps to create a soft, meditative atmosphere that’s missing on the new recording. It’s a somewhat frustrating issue and not a first recommendation, but the performances are often truly enlightening. D