Felix Delbruck wrote:

>I've finally resolved to get to know the Bartok quartets, having heard
>from many (including on this list) that they are particularly difficult
>and 'tough', but rewarding as few others once you 'get' them.  To make
>things easier for myself, I want to start with a recording that makes
>it clear the interpreters have thought about and understood the music,
>that shows me explicitly what Bartok is up to - ie not just an accurate
>execution of the score.  In particular, I want to get a clear structural
>sense of how the individual moments work in relation to one another -
>musically and emotionally.  In short I want a 'revelatory' recording.
>Any recommendations that fit these criteria?

Definitely the Emerson Quartet.  Theirs is the best I've ever heard, and
fulfill all your criteria.  I've been told by friends who are not Bartok
fans that their recording is the first which seems *not* to present the
works as "tough", or severe, but rather as great essays in lyricism,
warmth, depth of emotion, and humour(!).

I agree.

Leslie Kinton
Piano Faculty, The Glenn Gould Professional School,
The Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto.
Anagnoson and Kinton piano duo website: http://www.pianoduo.com