Having dealt comprehensively with Liszt (99 CDs for Hyperion), the indefatigable Leslie Howard has been espousing Anton Rubinstein, one of the few pianists whose energy and dash even Liszt admired: he once encouraged a timid student, ‘Play it more like Rubinstein’. Howard has this sense of warmth and energy that characterises Rubinstein even when, as can happen with a composer who wrote so much and so effortlessly, these qualities sometimes overtake actual quality and originality of invention. But though there are passages where this could be said of the F major Quartet, Op 55, Howard brings it all off enthusiastically; and Rubinstein does not disappoint with his melodic gift when it comes to the fruity tune in the Trio of the Scherzo. This is, incidentally, the first recording of the string version which Rubinstein made from the original Quintet with wind instruments.

The recording of the later C major Piano Quartet, Op 66, also appears to be the first, – surprisingly, as Rubinstein himself often played it. It is certainly the more accomplished work and contains much of Rubinstein’s character – the emotional energy, but also the keyboard virtuosity, the melodic charm, and the capacity for the entertainingly unexpected. Howard, who contributes a helpful booklet essay, understands the music and is excellently supported by the strings in a recording that gives the soloist some precedence but does not obscure the old lion’s understanding of string textures.