Takács Quartet Hyperion CDA 67793 (Op 71); CDA 67781 (Op 74)***

Haydn was the first great composer of string quartets. He effectively put the new medium on the musical map and left a large body of high-quality work for it. But performers and listeners have always engaged in a selectivity that leaves lots of first-rate music underexposed, including most of the six works from the two sets the Takács Quartet have recorded here. It’s a long time since Op 71 has impinged on Ireland’s concert life, and only the first and third from Op 74 (the latter with the benefit of a nickname, the Rider) are heard with any frequency. The Takács are studiously thorough guides to all six quartets, giving what you might call main-course performances rather than the appetiser- oriented ones sometimes heard in concert. Leader Edwin Dusinberre’s vibrato gets a bit intense for my taste at times, but I found I got used to it the more I listened. See url.ie/4qdb