Walter Meyer wrote:

>In the contra camp, however, the well respected music critic, B.H. Haggin,
>who admittedly was occasionally eccentric and always outspoken in his
>opinions, but who was a fan of the Budapest String Quartet, described its
>later, stereo, performances, contrasted with its earlier, mono, ones, as
>having undergone a "deterioration in tone and intonation and even in the
>treatment of the music [that] reached the point where the playing was not
>only musically unsatisfying but unpleasant to listen to."

This I find exaggerated to the point of not being credible but there
*is* in many instances quite a difference between the earlier Budapest
Beethoven recordings and those dating from the fifties and later.  They
set a standard which was impossible to surpass by themselves.....  which
is not to say that their fifties Beethoven wouldnt be regarded as important
performances were it not that compared to the earlier ones they are not on
the same par and I dont know of many people who will dispute this.  They
did make wonderful recordings in the fifties and even very early sixties
as well (Haydn comes to mind).

Philip