I think it was George Bernard Shaw who first remarked that Stanford was at his best when he forgot to act like a professor and let his Irish roots show through. One achievement of the Dante Quartet’s ongoing Stanford quartet cycle is to show just how wide of the mark these off-the-peg judgements can be – even if it’s hardly surprising that they persist. All three of the works on this disc are premiere recordings, an astonishing state of affairs for what must surely be the most significant quartet cycle by any British composer before Frank Bridge. That alone makes this disc essential listening.

As for the music, Jeremy Dibble’s excellent booklet notes identify several recognisably Irish traits. But you don’t necessarily hear them as such. The feverish intensity of the jig that forms the finale of the Quartet No 4 (1906) might equally remind you of Schubert’s Death and the Maiden, just as Stanford’s questioning, chromatic opening gestures suggest more modern developments in Europe. True, Mendelssohn is the presiding spirit in No 3 (1896), and there’s a sense of increased clarity and lyricism in No 7 (1919) – a hint of a ‘late style’? Lucid, idiomatic string-writing comes as standard throughout.

But still, the point stands. These are distinctive, fully achieved works by a composer with a profoundly serious artistic purpose. They’re each worth hearing, and the Dante Quartet go at them with red-blooded gusto and an energy that’s clearly born from the thrill of discovery. You might wish, at times, that they’d let the music breathe a little more freely: these aren’t what you’d call ‘lived-in’ performances. Hopefully those will come. For now, though, Somm and the Dantes have broken important new ground with impressive commitment.