In Haydn’s string quartet known as The Joke (not Haydn’s title), there was suave cheer in the playing, briefly marred by some scratchy intonation. When we reached the “joke” (“When’s it ending? Are we there yet?”), the Emersons were at their best, the touch light so as not to overplay the humour. Ravel’s String Quartet followed, its ebb and flow expertly caught, the second movement pizzicatos a dazzling array.