The Amadeus have always paid loving attention to Schubert and their 1960 disc of the same coupling was reissued comparatively recently (DG 2535 314, 11/78). But the new version has a much more persuasive sound to it, and I would only question the viola balance; for instance when, in the first movement of the D minor after bar 90, the cello and viola alternate with equally important phrases in semiquavers the viola's are much less prominent.
As in other works the Amadeus have been re-recording lately, there is a tendency to push things along more than in the past, and this is especially apparent in the Quartettsatz which is played very fast and virtually without rubato. At this tempo Brainin can still give the main tunes that Viennese lyricism that so satisfies one's ears, but in the two passages where he has phrases rushing up in semiquavers the players are unable to articulate their notes with a proper precision. The Melos (also DG) manage them better, yet by comparison with the Amadeus they seem to lack drive and the many touches of rubato sound sentimental. There is also a touch of sentimentality in the way they slow down the Trio of the Minuet in the D minor Quartet, a change which was not asked for by the composer. The Amadeus show that this movement comes off very well with hardly any change of tempo at all. They have always played the variations in the D minor sensitively. The one with the cello solo is beautifully done, and Brainin's delicate bowing is at its best in the G major variation, but the players fail to make bars 137-140 sound other than nasty (this is mainly Schubert's fault); the Melos are much more successful here. But Brainin's bowing is not always delicate; there are more roughnesses than there used to be, notably when he is attacking a fortissimo with too much energy; intonation sometimes falters briefly, as at the start of the D minor Scherzo. The Quartetto Italiano, notably in their more recent Philips recording, have their bowing more consistently under control, and though the style is less Viennese and the sound less lustrous the balance is better than on the Amadeus disc, and what I have called roughnesses are much less in evidence.'