01. - 05. String Quartet No.13 in B-flat major, op.131 [35'11]
06. Grosse Fuge, op.133 [16.00]
07. Alternative Finale for String Quartet No.13 [9'48]
Lindsay String Quartet (Peter Cropper and Ronald Birks- violins, Ronald Bigley- viola and Bernard Gregor-Smith- cello)
ASV (SKC) SKCD-L-0142 (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
Another issue from the series of Beethoven's late string quartet recordings made by the sometimes controversial Lindsays in the early 1980s. If you are sensitive to some poor intonation and approximate ensemble then maybe best to avoid; otherwise there is a great deal to enjoy here. As with the Heiliger Dankgesang of op.132 (Vol.4), the Cavatina here has breathtakingly beautiful control and this is my 'go to' recording of op.130/133. You can adapt your playlist to have either the Grosse Fuge or the Alternative Finale as the sixth movement. The Alternative Finale was omitted from the original LP issue; ASV citing lack of space! To play Quartet No.13 with the Grosse Fuge or the Alternative Finale seems to divide commentators just as much as the Lindsays' playing. Here, you can select playlists to have either work as the sixth movement.
Again, 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. SKC issued the series as four individual discs (with replicas of the original LP covers) rather than as only in a four-disc ASV set in Europe. Volume 1 will follow next week.
Download from MEGA.