The Leipzig Quartet have already abundantly proved their Mendelssohn credentials with a cycle of the quartets. Now, joined by viola player Barbara Buntrock, they turn their attention to the woefully underrated quintets, the First written when he was 17, the Second from nearly two decades later and only posthumously published. The Intermezzo of the First is a good example of the Leipzig’s approach, thoroughly involving, bringing out the quiet rhetoric of Mendelssohn’s writing so it absolutely registers but never feels overdone. And in the remarkable fugal Scherzo – the manic momentum here sounding uneasy rather than ebullient (as found in the Octet’s equivalent movement of a year earlier) – they bring out the darkness with tremendous clarity, though the Mendelssohn/Mann are still more febrile here. In the free-spirited finale, the Leipzigers react with wonderfully liquid phrasing and a cheekier aplomb than the more classical Zemlinsky or the smoother-contoured Mendelssohn/Mann.

If, in the Second Quintet’s slow movement, they don’t quite plumb the depths as Tetzlaff et al do, the sense of barely disguised panic when the opening idea returns, now set against tremolo strings, is potently managed here. Time and again the Leipzig subtly demonstrate the emotional impact of this quintet, not least in the more withdrawn passages in the opening movement, here presented with warmth, energy and plenty of detail.

Why these works aren’t as highly regarded as the string quintets by Brahms and Schubert I simply don’t know: if you don’t already know these pieces, this set will demonstrate exactly what you’ve been missing.