Overshadowed by four dozen later masterpieces, Haydn's Op 9 has usually received short shrift from players and commentators. The most familiar is the D minor, No 4, described by Hans Keller as 'the first great string quartet in the history of music'. The minor mode at this period (1769-70) invariably drew something special from Haydn, and this work stands apart from the others for its intensity of expression, its mastery of texture and development and the sheer character of its ideas. The opening Allegro moderato could well have been at the back of Mozart's mind when he came to write his own great D minor Quartet, K421. The Kodály Quartet is, as ever, a sympathetic Haydn exponent, impressing with its slightly old-fashioned warmth of sonority, the natural musicality of its phrasing and care for blend, balance and intonation, though the boomy church acoustic hardly helps.

Their simple eloquence in all three slow movements serves Haydn well...all the finales here are superb, showing Haydn at full stretch.