Myriad moods, immoderate demands and ‘unplumbed melancholy underlying even his brightest and most vivacious moments’ (WJ Turner’s description of Mozart could apply to Schubert too). The Cypress Quartet capture the sobriety and vivacity of the Quartettsatz with a lack of constraint not entirely evident in the Quintet. They discern its overall architecture and show no signs of technical strain; but their interpretative stance veers towards a middle ground, tempo in the first movement rather quick for Allegro ma non troppo, emotional temperature low. Contrasts are understated, as they are in the slow movement, laid back in approach and neglecting the importance of infinitesimal shadings of tempo and tone without which monotony sets in.

No group quite captures the mixture of serenity and troubled unrest in this Adagio as do The Lindsays and Douglas Cummings, their pace akin to time suspended. Bows seem barely on strings for pianissimo, Peter Cropper characterising the first-violin line after the recapitulation as a series of wracking sobs. Running them close are the Belcea Quartet with Valentin Erben; and some of the latest recordings – by the Pavel Haas Quartet/Danjulo Ishizaka and the Quatour Diotima/Anne Gastinel – have their moments too. The Pavel Haas have an exceptional grasp of the outer movements but are a touch casual in the second. Nevertheless, both groups jointly wreck their credibility by abreviating the Trio. Bars are excised in its second-half repeat and the section before the lead-in to the Scherzo. Why?