The Nash Ensemble, with a distinguished line-up including viola-players Lawrence Power and Philip Dukes and cellist Paul Watkins, here give flawless, superbly disciplined performances of Beethoven’s two string quintets. Op 4 is the composer’s transcription of the wind octet that he wrote in emulation of Mozart’s great examples of Harmoniemusik, the wind octets in E flat and C minor. Op 29, on the other hand, is Beethoven’s first completely original exploitation of the genre.

It is fascinating to find how Beethoven developed his arguments by rewriting wind music for strings, as Richard Wigmore explains in his excellent note. Key modulations are more adventurous and textures lightened, making this by far the finer work. The Nash players, carefully balanced and helped by the transparent recording, bring out the inner lines with admirable clarity. The slow movement, marked simply andante, is free-flowing with a warmly lyrical violin solo, while the mistitled Menuetto più allegretto is the most dashing scherzo, full of wit, and the finale is a dance-like rondo. The performance of Op 29 in C brings similar qualities, with clean separation and well chosen speeds on the fast side. What especially comes out is the originality of the finale, with its bizarre opening, chromatic passages and striking dynamic contrasts.

My only reservation is that if the Endellion recording of these quintets, included on the 10-disc complete Beethoven quartets and quintets, were issued separately, it would be marginally preferable, with a degree more flexibility in the ensemble and speeds that intensify the wit of Beethoven’s writing. There is also a bonus in two fragmentary fugues for string quintet. Meanwhile, this new disc from Hyperion has to be warmly welcomed for its first-rate sound and immaculate performances.