Beethoven: The Complete String Quartets / Alexander String Quartet

One of the very finest sets available. “ A majority of musicians would probably agree in regarding Beethoven’s string quartets as the highest peak in the whole range of chamber music.” Roger Fiske (‘ Chamber Music’, ed. Alec Robertson, Penguin Books, pub.1957) Over the last decade or so I have had the opportunity to play and consider the merits of several sets of the complete Beethoven string quartets. In particular I recall the accounts from the Bartók Quartet/Hungaroton, Juilliard Quartet/Sony, Italian Quartet/Philips, Guarneri Quartet/BMG RCA, Alban Berg Quartet/EMI Classics, Lindsays/ASV, Medici Quartet/Nimbus, Amadeus Quartet/Deutsche Grammophon and Takács Quartet/Decca. My benchmark of the complete quartets has been the series from the Takács on Decca. The 7 discs were recorded in 2001-04 at St. George’s Church, Bristol and released on three separate volumes: early quartets 470 848-2, middle quartets 470 847-2 and late quartets 470 849-2. With the advantage of splendid so