The Takács Quartet enters a crowded field with their recording of the two Janáček quartets, but this disc stands up to all the competition. As a generous prelude, we get Smetana’s Quartet No 1, a musical self-portrait that here sounds supple, energised and aptly bittersweet. The Takács’s account of Janáček’s Quartet No 1, the Kreutzer Sonata, is less belligerent, more nuanced and highly coloured than many; second violinist Károly Schranz makes the obsessive, scurrying accompaniments sound easy, almost elegant, and yet the music’s violence comes across vividly. The Quartet No 2, Intimate Letters, has its fulcrum in the third movement, in which Edward Dusinberre’s violin soars above the rest ever more insistently, with an increasing lyrical intensity that speaks of desperation. Indeed, it is the quality and character from each individual player, even when they are blended into a single entity, that once again sets the Takács apart.