I found this coupling both fascinating and exasperating. Federico Colli is a pianist on a mission, and that mission is to visit every musical phrase with a maximum of tonal colour. Which means, in playing terms, coquettish rubato, tiny hesitations, a singing cantabile and often exaggerated dynamics. All this might be considered admirable, even stimulating, in Scarlatti sonatas (Kk380 in E or Kk9 in D minor are fairly typical – I certainly enjoy them – 7/18), but in the two Mozart masterpieces featured here, where four players should be less looking into each other’s eyes than facing the same direction, I frequently discern a clash of styles.

Try the opening of the E flat Quartet, K493. The mobile piano part barely registers beneath the blatantly projected string lines. True, the repeat is a little better in this respect; but turn to the Sony recording spearheaded by pianist Leif Ove Andsnes and a much-needed crispness of attack is the principal virtue. As to Colli’s more individualistic handing of Mozart, try the opening of the G minor Quartet, K478, where, after the stern call to arms by the strings, Colli responds by pulling back ever so slightly and suddenly quietening his tone prior to the final phrase, announced on a trill. This might sound like a minor detail, which it would be were the rest of the performance less prone to affectation, but after a while you begin to get Colli’s drift, and rather than relish this or that daintily polished detail it begins to get in the way. But not always. Follow through from 6'25" in the first movement, and provided you’re not irritated by Francesca Dego’s bland suspension of vibrato, this is thoughtful playing. Then again, switch to the finale’s introduction and Colli starts toying again, unlike the finale to the E flat Quartet, where the dialogue between piano and strings is more or less perfect, the second subject too, from all concerned.

So, in a word, inconsistent, harking back to vintage chamber music recordings with Glenn Gould, Leonard Bernstein and their like, players with a vision but not for every day of the week. Colli and friends are similarly idiosyncratic so you’ll need to approach what they do with a healthy pinch of salt. Whether that salt proves a reliable condiment, once you’ve sampled, you tell me. As to a recommendation for the two quartets on a single CD I would unhesitatingly opt for the Fauré Quartet on DG, whose playing is consistently alert and where needs be expressive. This is Mozart served plain and simple, pure musical nourishment, and in these two magnificent works that is precisely what you need.