The Chiaroscuro Quartet revel in the composer's play of ideas...It was the interpretation of No. 5 that blind-sided me on a first listening...This is a deeply absorbing reading, and can make other interpretations seem almost trite. It’s partly the sheer timbral and dynamic range on offer: each note is given its resonance, keening dissonances fully realised, high lines lent a fine spun, fragile beauty.

In this completion of the set the players again use gut strings, but it is less the period light touch of the performances that is captivating than the inexhaustible richness of their imagination. Every unexpected twist and turn is as fresh as the day it was written.

The more I listened to the Chiaroscuros, the more I found myself tuning into their world. I very much hope that they will return to Haydn soon.

done with exquisite taste. The playing is intense and refined, exploratory and poised. The sound is featherweight, but there is grit and substance when needed. Alina Ibragimova leads with typical grace and ferocity, but this is real chamber music: the attack is immaculate and spirited from all four musicians.

The finale’s dramatic profiling is relished with an exuberance and temporal flexibility such that one wonders afresh at the blazing ingenuity of Haydn’s creative imagination.