Today the Pleyel name survives chiefly through the piano manufacturer, but its founder Ignaz Pleyel was, in his own time, one of the most celebrated composers in Europe, trained under Haydn. This recording presents three of his twelve String Quintets, works so admired that they inspired Mozart to write his own quintets in C major and G minor. Pleyel's writing balances crackling rhythmic energy with lyrical expansiveness, never losing its poise even at its most exuberant. Sprightly and good humoured, the quintets have an intrinsic lightness and grace that has lost none of its charm across two centuries. This is an ideal introduction to a composer whose reputation deserves rehabilitation beyond the piano workshop.