Dvořák’s two piano quartets stand beside those of Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Mendelssohn and Schumann as important contributions to the chamber music repertoire. Enlivened by Czech inflections, the elegant charm of the First, with its marvellous set of variations and combined scherzo-and-finale last movement, contrasts with the more serious and weighty character of the Second, where an expressive theme for cello in the slow movement and a lyrical scherzo in waltz-time lighten the prevailing mood.