A polished, well-judged, finely recorded account of the Piano Quintet, one that brings home to the listener that this is one of Dvorák’s richest, most satisfying chamber works. The players generate plenty of enthusiasm and excitement for the first movement’s elated coda, find the right mood of delicate melancholy in the Dumka, and an equally persuasive sense of tranquil contemplation for the middle section of the scherzo. The finale, somewhat heavier and more emphatic than usual, has a dramatic, Beethovenian aspect in its more forceful episodes – the fugato section makes a particularly strong impact. But, for all these positive aspects, something of the character and communicative warmth that emanates from the 1962 Curzon/Vienna recording (apparent from the first note of the opening cello melody) is missing, and Zacharias’s rubato can seem somewhat predictable by the side of Curzon’s flights of fancy.

Reservations are swept aside, however, on reaching the Op 97 String Quintet. Here, the Leipzig players produce such a rich, well-blended sound, and approach the music with such fervour, that one is carried along, and left wondering why this work has been the Cinderella of Dvorák’s American period. There are moments, to be sure, where a plainer, more objective style might serve the music better – the sad, lonely viola solo in the middle to the Scherzo is almost too refined in sound and phrasing – but, from the strongly emotional way the first movement’s ‘blue’ notes are emphasized to the intensity of the finale’s closing pages, this is a performance of remarkable heart and spirit