Again the Alban Berg Quartet is the first in the field and their set of the Rasumovsky together with Opp. 74 and 95 offers much to admire. (Indeed theirs will be the first complete Beethoven cycle in the new format, as at the time of writing the late quartets are announced on CDS7 47135-8 for imminent release.) The Alban Berg Quartet possess a wonderfully burnished tone, superbly blended ensemble and unanimity of attach as well as flawless intonation: my admiration for them in these performances is qualified in only one respect, namely their exaggerated dynamics. The pianissimos do not seem to me to arise naturally or organically from their musical argument but rather are self-conscious.
Although the Lindsay Quartet on ASV (on LP only) are not always ideal in the C major, Op. 59 No. 3, their accounts of the first two Rasumovsky Quartets approach greatness and their playing has a wonderful naturalness. The Alban Berg have by comparison a somewhat forced eloquence and I have not found that this worried me any less now than it did originally. In 1979 when reviewing the original LP release, I said after hearing the Alban Berg that ''to turn to the Vegh [Telefunken] is to enter another world, and one more deeply in tune with Beethoven's humanity and wisdom''. Looking back I see I was not alone in this view: the late EMG Monthly Letter found ''a tendency towards glossiness'', and hoped that this quartet would not ''degenerate into highly efficient beautifiers of the classics''. Judging from their Op. 18 reviewed in July, I don't think they have. Of course, neither the Vegh nor the Talich (Calliope) Quartets are contenders on CD, and personally I would be inclined to wait for the Lindsays to appear as they surely must. Those who want the Alban Berg need not hesitate so far as the recording quality of the transfers is concerned: they represent a considerable gain in immediacy and presence over the black discs.'