I would greatly appreciate recommendations for recordings of the Beethoven
quartets, particularly the late quartets.  I have been living for years
with the early-sixties stereo performances of the Budapest quartet, and for
whatever reason have never been able to find my way into this music.  It's
not just the somewhat rough quality of the playing in these performances;
I've found it difficult to follow the emotional or thematic (in all senses
of that word) lines running through the works.

Does anyone have any advice? Should I try the earlier, classic Budapest
performances? I've been leaning towards getting the Italian Quartet
performances, based on what I've read about them (I haven't actually
heard any of them).  Since I listen to lots of LP's as well as CD's,
recommendations of older recordings not available on CD are also fine.
Thanks for any suggestions!

Zack
the STATES OF CONTROL site
www.echonyc.com/~impulse