Bob Draper wrote concerning the Beethoven string quartets:

>There are now loads of super budget boxed sets appearing on top name
>labels.  Look out for them.  The Medici on Nimbus is a good buy.

They are a good buy; I particularly like their performances of the opus 18
quartets - best modern instrument recordings I've heard.

My son is coming home for the holidays from Santa Barbara (lucky guy),
and I have waiting for him the boxed set of the quartets by the Alexander
String Quartet on Arte Nova.  I could have have bought him other fine sets
for comparable or a little higher price, but his name is Alexander so the
selection was a simple one.

Concerning Beethoven's string quartets, I'm most impressed with how a
listener can track the development of Beethoven's craft, musical maturity,
and psychology by studying the 16 quartets and the Gross Fugue.  It amazes
me that the middle-period quartets were composed only 5 years or so after
the opus 18.  And, as good as the early and middle quartets are, it's the
late quartets which transcend the time period and solidify Beethoven's
deserved reputation as the master of the string quartet medium.

Don Satz
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