Australian audiences first became aware of the Brisbane-based Orava Quartet when they impressed everyone at the Musica Viva Festival in 2008 in an exceptional performance of Brahms’ Op. 51 No 1 String Quartet in a fringe concert. Formed by Kowalik siblings Daniel and Sylwia (violins) and cellist Karol, with Thomas Chawner on viola, they displayed character and excitement from the start.

Three years later David Dalseno took over second violin and they spent a couple of years in the US as graduate ensemble in residence at the University of Colorado in Boulder, where they worked closely with the Takács Quartet. Now this well-kept Australian musical secret is being unleashed on the international scene with their debut album of all-Russian works on the Deutsche Grammophon yellow label.

It is a remarkably mature set of performances. There’s a wonderful contrast between the heart-on-sleeve melodic world of...