Naming your ensemble after a composer creates high expectations when it comes to performing their music, but the London Haydn Quartet certainly don’t disappoint. Brought together through their shared love of Franz Joseph’s string quartets, the group is distinguished from similar ensembles by its period approach to ‘Papa’ Haydn.

They’ve spent the last 20 years devoted to the composer’s extensive canon. And having recorded Haydn’s five previous sets of quartets on the Hyperion label, the LHQ is releasing its sixth disc, featuring the Opp. 54 and 55 sets, known, along with the Op. 64 set, as the ‘Tost’ Quartets.

The LHQ approaches these performances with detailed consideration for every stroke of the bow. Haydn’s ensemble textures are treated like shapely, rounded surfaces brimming with character, the quartet balancing the most delicate moments with passages of real athleticism.

Haydn delights in every quartet, particularly during the gypsy-inflected Op. 54/2 second movement, where first violinist Catherine Manson’s rich yet playful reading shines. More treats lie in store in the sparkling presto finale of the Op. 54/3 quartet, and the minor to major journey of the Razor Quartet, Op. 55/2.

Haydn’s quartets were celebrated for not just spotlighting the first violin, but for their creative approach...