The Yale Quartet recorded a couple of Mozart Quartets on the Vanguard
Label.  I thought they were good.  I also have no problem with the
Juilliard "Haydn" Quartets (of Mozart).  On the theory that composers are
the best judges of other composers (they have a real appreciation of how
hard it is to do what Mozart did) I would, if I were a newcomer, have to
trust their judgment and keep looking for what the quartets have to offer
below the surface sheen.  Remember Haydn's comment to the effect that he
thought Mozart was the best composer writing at the time.  My impression
is that Mozart music moves so smoothly there is often a slickness that
lures one away from the compositional subtleties that make his music so
revelatory to composers and connoisseurs.

The opening of the "Dissonant" C major quartet is wonderful.  As Rosen
pointed out, as far afield as it seems to go it always relates clearly
back to C Major.

Chris Bonds