Mitch Friedfeld wrote:

>Any opinions out there?

The infinite intellectual variety of the later Beethoven quartets mandates
owning a number of versions from which to pick and choose, depending, of
course, upon one's predisposition at the moment.  I wish I had not so many
to choose from: the old Budapest, the Yale, the Quartetto Italiano, the
Cleveland, the Weller, the Fitzwilliam, the Alban Berg.  A garage sale is
called for.  The older I get, and the less I have sex and some woman on
my mind, the more I find the Berg mentally stimulating, for its straight,
no chaser, slightly hardboiled edge and its clean, razor-precise attacks.
It's wake up time, Guys; let's get real!  But given the right circumstance:
a jug of wine, a loaf of bread . . .  and Thou, I don't want Berg.  I want
Yale; I want the Italians.  Sorry.

John Dalmas
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