Martinù’s seven numbered string quartets do not form a coherent cycle in the way that the quartets of Bartók, Simpson or Shostakovich do. Martinù’s belong rather to the general corpus of his chamber music as a whole, relating as much to those works written close to each in time as much as themselves.

The three recorded here could scarcely be more different in texture, structure and dimension – and idiom – and none goes over the ground again of its fellows. True, the expansive early First (1918), taking up half the disc’s playing-time, is stylistically impure, embracing the various influences of Brahms, Debussy, Dvoøák and Reger with the same easy charm with which his later music disdained technical challenges. It is a thoroughly engaging score, earnest and beguiling by turns, although sounding nothing like the neo-classical Martinù of the 1920s and ’30s.

The Zemlinsky Quartet excels in this warm-hearted, exuberant score, a performance I enjoyed immensely. But the Pražák Quartet’s of the spikier Third (1929) and lyrical Sixth, both more concise – No 3 runs for just 12 minutes – are equally impressive and balance the Zemlinsky’s of No 1 superbly. Praga’s sound, recorded in Prague’s Dominová Studio, is very clear and well balanced. Unequivocally recommended.