Zack:

>I would greatly appreciate recommendations for recordings of the Beethoven
>quartets, particularly the late quartets.

Now I wonder if the 20 or 30 advices you have got so far has brought you
any further.  These advices prove that it is all a matter of taste.  Taste
differs, not only between people but often in time as well.  I myself have
many performances of the quartets.  I always bought them in order to find
some yet undiscovered truth in these works, and I always found that, both
in new recordings and in historical ones.  So the records that I prefer
also have changed during the times.  I really think that nobody can tell
you which performances you will like, except you.  My advice: turn on that
radio or go to the shop and listen for yourself.  And because the music is
many more times important than the performers, you will always come home
with something that you like in one way or another.

Frank