Sometimes a particular recording changes previous perceptions about the music that it features. The Zehetmair Quartett’s album of Schumann’s String Quartets Nos. 1 and 3 from 2003 undoubtedly did just that. Works which had hitherto seemed dry and uninspired beside Schumann’s wonderfully expressive songs and piano music, felt suddenly transformed in the Zehetmair Quartett’s rhythmically vital, emotionally insightful performances. String Quartet No. 1’s brilliantly played “Scherzo” crackles with nervous energy, while the psychological fragility of String Quartet No. 3’s slow movement “Adagio molto” (Schumann was dogged all his adult life by mental illness) is movingly rendered. In excellent sound, this ranks as one of the finest Schumann chamber music issues on record.