Nash Ensemble Hyperion,CDA 67861/3 (3 CDs) *****

Mozart wrote his first string quintet at the age of 17, choosing to add a second viola to the string quartet (the viola was an instrument he took a particular delight in playing). But, apart from making an arrangement of a wind serenade, he didn’t return to the genre until he was 31. The four quintets he subsequently completed are among his richest chamber works. The Nash Ensemble’s survey of all six pieces is not the least bit shy in the use of vibrato. But

it's light in touch, with transparency of texture and clarity of part-playing given high priority. Lightness of touch and profundity of expression need not be strangers to each other. Just listen to the high contrast in the Nash's handling of the Menuetof the G minor Quintet, the pathos they bring to the dialogue that opens the D major Quintet, or the laden songfulness of the Adagio which follows.

See url.ie/4qdb