Title: Visceral, beautiful playing
Review: There are a lot of fine choices for the Bartok string quartets and it would be hard to live with just one. At one end of the spectrum are more modernistic approaches, such as the 1960s recording by the Juilliard Quartet. Bartok's more lyrical and folk-inspired side turns up in versions by the Takacs and Vegh Quartets.The New Budapest Quartet attacks these legendary pieces more in the lyrical and painterly vein. Even thorny works like #3 & #4 seem much more easily approached. I listened to these on a long drive in the middle of the night in New England and they definitely brought out what is meant by Bartok's "Night Music".This set is getting hard to find. I wouldn't pay outrageous collector's prices when so many other excellent versions are to be found (Vegh, Takacs, Juilliard '64, Emerson, Hungarian), but if you find this it is solidly recommended.
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