Irene Scopelliti wrote: >I like very much the sound of quartetto italiano, especially in Schubert, >does anyone think a quartet can play better those pieces? From what you write above I think you have very good ears! Nothing wrong with those choices at all. Are you in Europe? Check out the Quatour Danel. They are a Belgian quartet. I heard them doing a quartet by Gounod. Indifferent music but gorgeous playing. They claim the Amadeus Quartet as models. If you want to compare recordings of the Beethoven Quartets you might want to consider some of the early Budapest Quartet re-issues. These are recordings from the 1940s so they aren't in stereo. But the famous quartet were in their prime and their sense of ensemble has never been surpassed. Some of my other favorite quartets are the Guarneri Quartet (they have a good recording of Dvorak's "American" quartet and have recorded the complete Beethoven) and the Yale Quartet, who did some recording of Mozart and Beethoven on the Vanguard label. The Beethoven at least I have seen re-issued on CD. If you can find recordings on the Testament label of the Hollywood String Quartet--they are first rate! Even though I don't own them, I can also recommend (as I did recently) the Vegh Quartet's complete Beethoven Cycle. They have also recorded the Bartok quartets. Vigorous! My personal preference is for energy above polish. If the level of polish meets my minimum standards (i.e., they sound like they know what they're doing), then I go for the energy. Personally I find the "energy" expended by the Emerson quartet (I own their Bartok and Beethoven cycles--make offer!!!) to be a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing. But I gotta admire their sheer bravado at times. Do not neglect the Juilliard String Quartet. They have a nice set of the 6 Mozart Quartets "dedicated to Haydn." They also excelled in contemporary literature, especially American. They have recorded the quartets of Elliott Carter, for example. If you want to branch out into quintets, my choice would be to go for the Mozart set (the Grumiaux Trio + 2 is excellent--on Philips) and the great Schubert C Major Quintet. There are many fine recordings. For "authentic instrument" treatment try L'Archibudelli; for a traditional approach try the Casals Festival recording (Casals, Katims, Stern, et al.) as well as the Hollywood String Quartet. On that you get the bonus of Schoenberg's Verklaerte Nacht in its sextet version. (Testament CD). Juilliard Quartet with Bernard Greenhouse on Sony is also good but not as good as the others. It is, however a live recording and has a certain electricity. If you find any recordings by the Borodin Quartet where Rostislav Dubinsky plays first fiddle, get them. I have not yet heard the Arditti quartet but knowledgeable souls tell me they are unsurpassed in difficult modern repertoire. Oh gosh, where to go? There are great quartets by Haydn (look for Budapest Quartet here), Brahms, Schumann, Dvorak, Smetana, Shostakovich, Janacek (the Guarneri has just done some, but you might check the Czech quartets first), Bartok, Schoenberg, Carter... the list goes on. Hope that gives you some ideas. Chris Bonds