This version is exceptionally well recorded, with superb balance among the instruments...The players of the Arcanto Quartet, as well as the second cellist Olivier Marron, adopt an austere approach to tone, using very little vibrato...the Arcanto score highly. What I missed was the abandon which is to be found in the very finest performances.

Their sound is distinctively bright and takes the robust-but-sensitive approach that always makes them such appealing candidate for the performance of the cornerstones of chamber repertoire...However, the strongest recommendation for this disc...is the simple point that they manage to bring out the earlier Classical influences in the music that are often passed over in favour of soupy indulgence.

This is a performance of the highest class, gripping you from the moment that four of the five players set bow to string at the outset … the overall impression is of extreme thoughtfulness … Comparisons seem pointless. Notwithstanding the countless versions of this piece, this is one for the gods.

Listening to this intense, richly expressive account, you wonder again how superior spirits ever had the nerve to patronise Schubert’s quintet...The Arcanto and the cellist Olivier Marron — driven, passionate yet exceptional in clarity of texture — realise the work’s combination of danger and yearning, of desperation and dreamlike beauty, to an inspiring degree.

Can the market bear another recording of a work so popular as to be almost hackneyed? Yes, when the playing has the detail, the muscularity, the daring and sparkle displayed here. Tempi are brisk but not rushed; vibrato is kept under tight rein and the slow movement sings tenderly rather than sobs, making it all the more expressive. The outer movements shine in perfect but vigorous ensemble.

An account that brinds out the depths of light and shade in Schubert’s masterpiece … Throughout, the intonation is impeccable and, thanks also to excellent sound quality, this newcomer can be strongly recommended.