Performers of Dvořák, especially his large-scale forms, seem to face more pressing questions of tempo than when playing other ‘standard’ Romantic repertoire. How deftly, for example, does the composer move in the Lento of the Op 87 Piano Quartet between the yearning cello melody and its more agitated countersubject? Performers must follow suit, perhaps judging their response more by mood than by literal fidelity without slipping into the kind of rhythmic sloppiness that can deprive the composer of his special inflection. The Dumka of the Piano Quintet is an even more pertinent case in point, explicitly moving away from and back towards its initial Andante con moto four times with an expressive flexibility that demands as much alertness from performers as do Beethoven’s own late slow movements.

Happily, the Schubert Ensemble meet Dvořák on his own terms; no mean feat given the previous dominance in this repertoire of home-grown musicians. The mixed make-up of the ensemble may be important in this regard, for these are emphatically not recordings made by a pianist and a string quartet. Both William Howard and the Chandos engineers appear acutely aware of the inherent balance problems in this music and overcome them more completely than any other recording I’ve heard. The sound is full and full-frontal, but then your listening room isn’t Wigmore Hall, where the ensemble often play, and it suits these pertly articulated performances which are always on the qui vive for chances to sing and to dance. This an unqualified delight.