I probably listen less to string quartets than to any other music on disc
and have very few opportunities to attend concerts featuring quartets.  So,
I was looking forward to last night when my wife and I attended a concert
locally in which the program was Prokofiev's Second Quartet, Mozart's
Dissonant Quartet, and Beethoven's op. 59 n 3.  While overall an enjoyable
evening with an engaging group of young musicians, the performance seemed
to lack something.  I'm not going to mention the name of the Quartet
because I don't feel qualified to pass judgement; instead, i tried to put
my finger on some of the things I found lacking.  And I'd like to ask list
members if these are, in general, the types of things that influence a
quartet performance--for better or worse.

First, the group seemed to all play at the same dynamic level.  This
led to the second thing I noticed which was that I had trouble picking
out separate voices, often in places where I knew there should be some
distinction from my familiarity with the recordings.  The inner voices
and counterpoint were often lost in a generalized sound of all fouor
instruments.  What can cause this? I realize this kind of "imaging" problem
can be characteristic of a less than ideal recording or audio set up, but
I expected more in a live performance.

Sforzandos lacked bite.  This contributed to an overall lack of energy or
excitement in the performance.  Finally, (no pun intended) endings were
often ragged, with a miniscule, but observable gap between the instruments.

Are these the kinds of factors which distinguish a good performance from a
lesser one? What are other factors I might have considered? Lastly, how do
others find the difference between string quartets live vs. cd?

Thanks.

Ed