Budapest String Quartet - Beethoven: Late String Quartets (Live) (1997)

For several generations of Americans, the Budapest Quartet defined the art of string quartet playing. One of the ways the Budapest achieved this was through its radio broadcasts from the Library of Congress while playing the Library's matched set of Stradivarius instruments. Between 1941 and 1960, the Budapest's performances of Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, and, of course, Beethoven were heard by more Americans than could ever have hoped to hear them before radio. This means that more Americans were exposed to the deep humanity and profound spirituality of Beethoven's late quartets through performances like those on this set remastered and reissued on Bridge. What a wonderful thing and what a shame: wonderful because so many heard so much truly sublime music and a shame because so many got to hear it in such wretched performances. From the pinched and narrow tone to the soloistic approach to ensemble, the Budapest's performances are often painfully out of tune and rhythmically out of sync. Worse yet, the Budapest sounds tired and weary: its Op. 127 is frail, its Op. 130 is feeble, its Op. 133 verges on disunity, its Op. 132 passes into disintegration, and its Op. 135 is just a mess. But all that having been said, the Budapest's July 7, 1943, performance of Op. 131, the C sharp minor, is terrific. In the opening Fugue, the tone seems less irritating than probing. In the Presto, the ensemble seems less free than driven. And the while its interpretation may be as much inspired as it is premeditated, its inspiration exhilarates and exalts its interpretation rather then sending it careening off a cliff. This is worth hearing for the C sharp minor; otherwise, it's proof that you can fool some of the people some of the time.