Schoenberg's Third and Fourth String Quartets are already available in the series that Robert Craft is curating for Naxos, and the same group of players, brought together by cellist Fred Sherry with Leila Josefowicz as first violin, now tackles the First Quartet, Op 7. Completed in 1905 and lasting over 45 minutes, it's one of Schoenberg's most impressive early works. Though overshadowed by the pieces that followed in the next few years, including the First Chamber Symphony and the Second Quartet, it's abundantly inventive, as the music parades its influences – Beethoven, Brahms, Liszt, Wagner and Reger – and veers unnervingly between intense chromaticism and moments of diatonic purity. Sherry and his group catch that sense of boundless energy and exuberant experimentalism perfectly, while always keeping a firm grip on the piece's structure. They mould the string-sextet version of Verklärte Nacht equally artfully, with every instrumental line beautifully presented. These are top-quality performances at bargain price.