Haydn is considered the inventor of the genre, and by the time he composed these two works in 1793 he already created more than 50 in the genre. He wrote these after his first visit to London, still in Vienna. Both were written for a bigger, more concert like audience, and it shows. The quartets in this series have the character of larger, symphony like works.
They also sound more and more dramatic, especially the number 3 (confusingly called The rider just like number 2). It is almost like late Haydn meets early Beethoven, and the romantic master let himself inspired by them in his opus 18 string quartets.
A truly beautiful performance and recording, highly recommended.