In 2022 Naxos released a recording of Enescu’s 1909 Piano Quartet No 1 by an ensemble led by pianist Josu De Solaun, winner of the 2014 Enescu International Competition. And now, just a year or so later, here’s another – this one the brainchild of Romanian pianist Cătălin Şerban. Unlike De Solaun and his colleagues, who seize upon the music’s drama in a sharp-edged, blistering account, Şerban and co take a softer-grained, more expansive view that puts the work’s ecstatic lyricism front and centre. Honestly, I’d have a difficult time choosing between the two.

Certainly, Enescu’s score needs some sort of helping hand. Reviewing a recording by the Schubert Ensemble (Chandos, 9/11), Stephen Plaistow described the discourse in the First Quartet as ‘rather relentless’ and ‘strangely nondescript’. I don’t agree, but at least as far as the Schubert Ensemble’s plain-spoken interpretation goes, his reaction was not entirely unjustified. De Solaun et al prove that, in fact, this music abounds with character and contrast. Şerban, for his part, has the benefit of excellent string players whose sound is beautifully blended – listen, say, at 8'55" in the first movement, where for a few phrases the music sounds like a cousin to Schoenberg’s D minor String Quartet – and recorded sound that’s far more flattering. Although at times I miss De Solaun’s fire, I find the rapturous quality of Şerban's performance utterly mesmeric. And, mind you, in no way do Şerban and his team stint on drama. Their tempo for the finale may be a little more relaxed than De Solaun’s but they still lead one on a thrillingly wild ride.

Enescu was a composition student of Fauré’s, and the French composer’s influence is palpable in much of Op 16’s first two movements, so it makes sense to have Fauré’s First Piano Quartet as the coupling here (De Solaun’s recording features Enescu’s 1916 Piano Trio). It’s a very fine performance of the Fauré, in any case – one that feasts on the music’s myriad changes of harmonic colour, although this is done without any undue fussing in terms of tempo. In sum, then, this is a valuable addition to the discography of Enescu’s much-underrated chamber music.