The early 19th century couldn’t get enough of Beethoven’s Septet, to the composer’s mounting irritation (‘too much sentimentality and too little skill’ was his muttered verdict). Its offshoots include, most famously, Schubert’s Octet, but also the three-movement Septet of 1828 by the Swede Franz Berwald. There’s little here of the quirky individuality of Berwald’s symphonies of the 1840s. But his Septet is a welcome jeu d’esprit: tuneful, neatly structured (the slow movement enfolds a breezy Prestissimo scherzo), and deftly written for the wind-string ensemble.

Berwald could hardly have more persuasive advocates than the Wigmore Soloists, a starry line-up led with mingled finesse and ebullience by violinist Isabelle van Keulen and clarinettist Michael Collins. Aided by typically superb BIS recorded sound, textures are ideally balanced. Touches of horn and bassoon colour always tell. Phrasing of the lyrical melodies – say, the folk-like theme of the Adagio – is invariably graceful, while the scherzo interlude and the chattering buffo finale are dispatched with scintillating virtuosity and an infectious sense of fun. If the finale doesn’t make you smile, you probably haven’t been listening.

Beethoven’s Septet, as popular now as it was two centuries ago, is just as enjoyable. Compared with other recommendable versions – the Vienna Octet (Decca, 5/88), the Gaudier (Hyperion, 7/92) and the Nash (ASV, 11/04) – the Wigmore Soloists are slightly more urbane. Their Minuet and Scherzo are dapper where the other groups sound more earthy, and more lustily accented. For all van Keulen’s refinement and panache, her skittering figuration and chirpy commentaries in the fast movements can be delicate to a fault. But delights abound. No recording I know is so closely attentive to Beethoven’s dynamic and articulation markings, not least in the pools of pianissimo mystery in the outer movements and Adagio. The Adagio’s clarinet solo is poetically floated by Collins over feathery strings (bass lines are always kept light and springy); and Alberto Menéndez Escribano makes the soft horn theme that sails in towards the end of the first movement (8'46") as magical as Beethoven surely intended. My inner ear craved added touches of ornamentation in the Adagio’s recapitulation – but I suspect that’s my problem. The Wigmore Soloists’ Beethoven yields to none in polish, buoyancy and cantabile eloquence, while the Berwald makes for a thoroughly agreeable digestif.