Big works, and written to be premiered in the Hanover Square Rooms during Haydn’s second London visit in 1794. Thus Op 71 No 1 begins with a public summons, four loud chords on the tonic, subdominant and dominant of B flat. Unusually, the first violin is directed to play fortissimo, the others forte. The Takács Quartet, if not entirely forceful, observe the difference in grading. Oddly, they aren’t as careful about the opening theme that follows, playing it with a full tone that’s hardly mezza voce. Contrast is diminished, as it is throughout this movement because their restricted dynamic range scales down drama. It isn’t until the finale that commitment to the work is noticeable; and then it all gets better.

If the slow movement of No 1 is impersonal, that of No 2 is anything but, the melody, ideally paced, rising out of a hushed cantabile and building up to a sonorous C major middle section. As touching is the interpretation of the Andante con moto of No 3, particularly revealing in the shadings from B flat minor to D flat major in the first variation. What about extroversion, though? Pertinently, Professor Mary Hunter says that ‘virtuosic or “brilliant” passages may reveal that the composer has clearly constructed a moment in which the audience’s attention is meant to be directed to the performer’s capacity to reproduce the difficult passagework he has written’. The outer movements of Op 74 No 1, with sweeping passagework and virtuoso writing for the leader in the first, show that Haydn had clearly constructed all his moments, and the Tákacs don’t stint on them. Or on the moments that are less obvious calls to attention – like No 2 which, after an imposing eight-bar introduction, settles into what these musicians discern as a work of quieter subtleties, their excellent internal balancing allowing every note and expressive gesture to speak. As for the Largo assai of No 3, it’s for you to experience what a wholeheartedly unfeigned performance can do. The sound is realistic; but is it realistic to seat the players right across the stage?