Strauss’s Piano Quartet in C minor is not among his more celebrated early works, even though it won first prize in a competition organised by the Berlin Tonkünstlerverein. Written in 1884‑85, it is derivative in its classical style, although it is underpinned by a strong Romantic flair, immediately obvious in the Brahmsian first movement. Miguel Borges Coelho and the members of the PraΩák Quartet play it with gusto and are especially persuasive in the witty scherzo with its almost dreamy lyrical central section. The Andante too is endearingly melodic, with a touch of Mendelssohn in its shaping, although with more full-bodied scoring. The vigorous finale completes the work confidently and impressively, and the performers here revel in its dynamism. In short, they make a very good case for its return to the repertoire.

Michal Ka√ka and Miguel Borges Coelho, similarly, give a highly persuasive account of the Cello Sonata, lyrically passionate in the generously themed first movement, gently expressive in the rather melancholy Andante, contrastingly skittish and imaginatively diverse in the finale, with an attractive lyrical strain, again revealing the work as well worth restoring to the recital room. The later and much better-known introduction to the opera Capriccio makes a generous bonus, beautifully played by a different grouping of equal excellence, and here the admirably clear recording, made in the Martinu Hall of Lichtenstein Palace, Prague, has a subtle added lustre from the SACD recording.