01. - 04. String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, op.132 [45'18]
05. - 08. String Quartet No. 16 in F major, op.135 [26'33]
Lindsay String Quartet (Peter Cropper and Ronald Birks- violins, Ronald Bigley- viola and Bernard Gregor-Smith- cello)
ASV (SKC) SKCD-L-0143 (recorded early 1980s; this CD released in 1987)
(CD-rip; flacs, cover, inlay and booklet scans)
Recording information is sparse but this is my best guess.
Venue: Not stated but may be Castleton Parish Church or The Crucible, Sheffield?
Recording engineer: Martin Haskell; Producer: Anthony Sargent or John Boyden?
Recordings by the Lindsays seem to have divided listeners throughout the group's existence - many love them and many abhor them. I find myself somewhere in the middle but for the Beethoven late quartets (and for the Schubert String Quintet) I keep finding myself returning to their first set from the late 1970s as my preferred listening.
Many complain about the leader Peter Cropper's intonation and the quartet's sometimes approximate ensemble - but it has never troubled me. And, although he uses minimal vibrato, I don't find Cropper as overpowering or piercing as many first violins. Indeed, I find the chosen tempi and sublime playing just right in all four discs in this series. Here, the Heiliger Dankgesang of op.132 hasbreathtakingly beautiful control.
I also prefer this set to the Lindsays' later, early Noughties, re-recordings where the quartet seems to have become something of a caricature. I have also been surprised to discover that this set doesn't appear to be represented on any of the usual d/l sites. Following the demise of ASV, these recordings appear to have come into the ownership of Universal Music so will probably reappear on Decca Eloquence.
Recording details are not given at all on this issue made by the Korean SKC company for the east Asia market and purchased in Singapore in the late 1980s. I have also found the same lack of information with other regular ASV issues and throughout the internet. If somebody has more information, please let me know.
The set won a Gramophone award in 1984 and the other three volumes, all issued separately by SKC, will follow soon.
Download from MEGA.