The CD format retains the original layout: Opp. 126 and 135 share the first disc; Op. 130 and the Grosse fuge the second; while Opp. 131 and 132 occupy a disc each. On returning to sample the original LPs alongside the newcomers, I found a marginally greater clarity and definition but otherwise little difference: my LP copies dating from the early 1970s still have totally silent surfaces.
As recordings, these Philips issues made between 1967 and 1969 can hold their own against either of the recent sets listed above, even if there is a greater bloom above the stave on the Alban Berg (EMI). The gain in clarity also entails a very slight loss of warmth in the middle register.
The Quartetto Italiano recordings have appeared in a variety of reincarnations since they first came out as individual issues (first, as a boxed set of the four LPs, then as part of a complete ten-LP set, then as double-packs at mid-price and so on) and their merits are so well known that I shall not dwell on them again. Not all of them received universal acclaim at the time of their first release. Looking back over earlier reviews I see that RF found the opening fugue of the C sharp minor too slow at four-in-the-bar and far more espressivo than he cared for, a view which I well appreciate, though it is less espressivo than the Alban Berg, and Max Harrison while admiring Op. 132, preferred the Hungarian Quartet (EMI—nla) in some of the individual quartet movements: so, too, did RF. But then no one ensemble ever penetrates all the depths of this sublime music and these performances still strike a finely judged balance between beauty and truth, and are ultimately more satisfying and searching than the two rival versions listed above.
Take care of the sense and the sound takes care of itself: the sonority that the Quartetto Italiano produce is to my ear better-blended and has a greater variety of tone-colour than the Melos (DG) and generally speaking, they give each musical point more time to register. The Alban Berg on EMI produce the most beautiful sound of all by far and judged as quartet playing theirs is the most perfect set of the three. Yet at the risk of sounding glib, with all their impeccable technical address they offer beauty first and truth second. They are really sumptuously recorded, while on the DG set, as I said at the time of its appearance, each of the four instruments is well defined and present, but the sound is a bit too bright and clinical for this eminently private yet universal music. Of course, the Melos score over both the Quartetto Italiano and the Alban Berg in accommodating all the quartets on three rather than four discs. However, in spite of the additional outlay I would unhesitatingly prefer the Philips set whose musical merits seem to me to well withstand the test of time. The vegh (reviewed below) and the Talich on Calliope have special claims and give searching and deeply-felt accounts of them all, and even if in the case of the Vegh, they are not always immaculate technically, there is a rare understanding of what this music is about. However, these are all coupled quite differently: the Calliope set offering a middle- and late-period quartet together. Of the complete sets, however, the Quartetto Italiano can be confidently recommended and its transfer to the new medium warmly welcomed.'