New Beethoven String Quartet disc by the Petersen Quartet

Hi Jarrett,

there are at least two complete Beethoven cycles by the Alban Berg Qt, one of 'em from the early eigthies and one from the early nineties. The latter is a live recording.

The sound you're talking about is a mixture of the natural character of the AB Quartet and early eighties EMI sound, which is rather treble oriented.

I have the early and the late quartets from the eighties cycle. I have to admit their late quartets are excellently performed; technically they are among the top quartets of the 1975 - 2000 era. (I guess the Emersons have taken over this position now.) They are however a little too slick at times, and the further you get in time, the more the nervous cantabile of the first violinist becomes an irritant.

Have you ever listened to the Quartetto Italiano? Their recording is from the seventies (so the sound is excellent) when they had been performing these works for more than 25 years. Occasionally they're a little slow and meditative, but this is a near ideal rendition (I love their Middle Quartets). Comes in a complete box, though (on Philips, not DG.).

Herman

Last week, after the disappointment of the Petersen, I picked up a close-out (!) of the 127, 131, 132, and 135 by the Budapest Quartet on Sony, from the Masterworks Heritage series. Let me just write that this is the way Beethoven should be. While only the 127 is common between both sets, the Budapest in the early 1940s quite easily outplayed the young whippersnappers from today. Not only was the technical achievement fine, the actual playing had something substantive to say. This is some of the finest Beethoven quartet playing I have heard. (The 131 is the weakest of the group, and even that is exceptional.) I was not surprised, having last year snapped up a close-out of the Budapest Quartet playing the middle quartets on Bridge, all of them recordings made by the Library of Congress.

A few words on sound: I can write without hyperbole that this is the finest sounding transfer of pre-tape mono recordings I have yet heard - and I have some other Sony Masterworks discs. It seems that the masters may have been 16" 33 RPM acetates rather than 78s, and the sound, while obviously no match for late analog and most contemporary digital (from about 1996 forward), is extremely good. There is literally no background noise most of the time, and the instruments sound about as real as one could hope for given the vintage. A truly remarkable set.

Todd ; I haven't heard the Budapest, but will make a point if tracking down the set you mention. I would also recommend, if you haven't already come across it, the Busch quartet in late Beethoven, which is of a similar vintage, and also exceptional.